Saturday, February 26, 2011

Texas Taxes

I was recently ask, "why are Texas taxes so darn high compared to the rest of the US"?     

And so I say


Like most Americans, Texans, Austinites and SRCC dwellers, my wife and I don’t like paying more than is our share of taxes.    However, this is where there’s a conflict.   We also want better streets, parks and more street lamps.   We want more police patrols and recycling options.   We want better schools and higher paid teachers, with more computers for science and fully developed art/music programs.   We want clean water, reasonable traffic and lots of libraries that are open late.  The conflict is that all of these things cost money; money that our state and local governments take from us and our neighbors in the form of taxes.
  
Texas has a very low tax rate as compared to the rest of the country.     We are one of 7 states with no income tax, as compared to California at 8.0% and New York at 6.85%.   State sales tax is also another area where Texas is not at the top of the list.    States with the highest sales tax are:  #1 California at 8.75%, #2 Indiana & Mississippi at 7%.   Texas is tied for 9th at 6.25%.

Where Travis County does fall behind is property taxes.   Of the 722 counties in the US with populations over 65K, Travis is 65th for average real-estate taxes paid.  We are the 3rd highest in Texas (behind Collin & Fort Bend Counties).    Williamson County is 79th, Harris County (Houston) is 165th, Dallas county is 193rd and Bexar (San Antonio) is 226rd in the US.

However, if you look at ALL the taxes cumulatively for every state, Texas is at the bottom at 43rd.  Alaskans pay the least, 6.4%, then Nevada 6.6%, Wyoming 7.0%, Florida 7.4%, New Hampshire 7.6%, South Dakota 7.9%, Tennessee 8.3% and Texas 8.4%.   The national average is 9.7% down from 9.9% in 2007.

Statistics from www.taxfoundation.org from 2007

Friday, February 25, 2011

The New Ride

Picked this up today.  Now I drive around like a nervous, very tall, nelly.  I never thought I'd be a truck guy, but as it turns out I often need to haul a large something, tow a boat and potentially put a child seat in the back (eventually). 


Day 14 - Tile Backsplash, Grout, Lights


Sorry folks.   I've been busy. 

To done:
Install drawer hardware
Install Light
Seal tile
Trim mirror
Tile Back-splash
Paint EVERYTHING

 To do:
Install Faucet – currently 21 days late shipping (now scheduled for Friday 2/25)
Install Drain – to be installed with faucet
Recoat Bathtub – scheduled for Wednesday
Install Toilet – will follow Bathtub, unless I get antsy

Install medicine cabinet shelf & hardware – hardware on order.







Friday, February 18, 2011

Oh god, what a Rodeo Clown he is.

Mrs. Bush, Abstinence and Texas

Today, let’s discuss choices, starting with Barbara Bush raising an alarm and Gov. Rick Perry’s personal experience with sexual abstinence.

I did throw in the last one to keep you interested. Sue me.

This month, The Houston Chronicle published an opinion piece by the former first lady titled “We Can’t Afford to Cut Education,” in which Mrs. Bush pointed out that students in Texas currently rank 47th in the nation in literacy, 49th in verbal SAT scores and 46th in math scores. 

“In light of these statistics, can we afford to cut the number of teachers, increase class sizes, eliminate scholarships for underprivileged students and close several community colleges?” she asked.
You’d think there’d be an obvious answer. But the Texas State Legislature is looking to cut about $4.8 billion over the next two years from the schools. Budgets are tight everywhere, but Perry, the state’s governor, and his supporters made things much worse by reducing school property taxes by a third in 2006 under the theory that a higher cigarette tax and a new business franchise tax would make up the difference. Which they didn’t.

“In Austin, I’ve got half-a-dozen or more schools on a list to be closed — one of which I presented a federal blue-ribbon award to for excellence,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett. “And several hundred school personnel on the list for possible terminations.”

So the first choice is what to do. You may not be surprised to hear that Governor Perry has rejected new taxes. He’s also currently refusing $830 million in federal aid to education because the Democratic members of Congress from Texas — ticked off because Perry used $3.2 billion in stimulus dollars for schools to plug other holes in his budget — put in special language requiring that this time Texas actually use the money for the kids. 

“If I have to cast very tough votes, criticized by every Republican as too much federal spending, at least it ought to go to the purpose we voted for it,” said Doggett.

Nobody wants to see underperforming, overcrowded schools being deprived of more resources anywhere. But when it happens in Texas, it’s a national crisis. The birth rate there is the highest in the country, and if it continues that way, Texas will be educating about a tenth of the future population. It ranks third in teen pregnancies — always the children most likely to be in need of extra help. And it is No. 1 in repeat teen pregnancies.

Which brings us to choice two. Besides reducing services to children, Texs is doing as little as possible to help women — especially young women — avoid unwanted pregnancy.

For one thing, it’s extremely tough for teenagers to get contraceptives in Texas. “If you are a kid, even in college, if it’s state-funded you have to have parental consent,” said Susan Tortolero, director of the Prevention Research Center at the University of Texas in Houston.

Plus, the Perry government is a huge fan of the deeply ineffective abstinence-only sex education. Texas gobbles up more federal funds than any other state for the purpose of teaching kids that the only way to avoid unwanted pregnancies is to avoid sex entirely. (Who knew that the health care reform bill included $250 million for abstinence-only sex ed? Thank you, Senator Orrin Hatch!) But the state refused to accept federal money for more expansive, “evidence-based” programs.

“Abstinence works,” said Governor Perry during a televised interview with Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune.
“But we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate among all states in the country,” Smith responded.
“It works,” insisted Perry.

“Can you give me a statistic suggesting it works?” asked Smith.

“I’m just going to tell you from my own personal life. Abstinence works,” said Perry, doggedly.

Tortolero, who lectures around the country on effective ways to prevent teenage pregnancy, once testified before a committee in the Texas House that was considering a bill to require that sex education classes only provide information that was medically accurate.

The bill was controversial. I’ll let you ponder that for a minute.

Tortolero said she got some support from a legislator who was also a pediatrician. “We talked back and forth for a month. But some groups in Texas were threatening him and he was a very junior member,” she recalled. The bill died.

Meanwhile, Perry — having chosen not to help young women avoid unwanted pregnancies and not to pay enough to educate the booming population of Texas children — wowed the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington with his states’ rights rhetoric.

Which would be fine, as I said, if his state wasn’t in charge of preparing a large chunk of the nation’s future work force. Perry used to be famous for his flirtation with talk of secession.

Maybe we should encourage him to revisit it.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Day 13 - Countertop/Sink/mirror installed

 
To do:
Install Faucet
Install Drain
Install drawer hardware
Install Light
Seal tile
Trim mirror
Install medicine cabinet shelf &hardware

Tile Backsplash
Paint EVERYTHING

Recoat Bathtub
Install Toilet

put up a contender

I don't really see a contendor on this chart.

The color of each circle reflects the region the candidate is from: blue for the Northeast, red for the South, green for the Midwest, and yellow for the West.  The size of the circle reflect the likely hood of them receiving the Republican nomination.


Friday, February 11, 2011

Smoke Detector Think Tank

I just got off the phone with FIRST ALERT, the maker of our dual function hardwired smoke/carbon monoxide detector.    The reason being that it seems to want to chirp, once and only once, at about 4 in the morning. 
























After changing the battery two times, I decided to give them a call & surprisingly got them after a mere 4 minutes on hold.   Their solution - I wasn't using an Energizer or Duracell brand battery.     WTF?   They left me with that suggestion, told me to push the reset button for 12 seconds and to call them again on Monday if there was a problem.   

Day 12 - Stone Arrives & then Leaves

I went and pick up the stone at the stone yard.   Man, those guys are a bunch of thieves.  The price was quoted at $17/ft. and before I got out the door it ended up at $36/ft.    Not good guys. 

And then, 20 minutes later the stone leaves to be whittled down.  I will be scribed to the back wall, have it's one edge eased.   The undermount sink will then be cut out and the piece will be cut to fit and brought back the following day (if all goes well).    I suppose this guy could take my stone/sink & run.    But if not I will be recommending him for future jobs.

Well, whatdaya know

Have you seen the ads for chocolate diamonds?   Well I got curious and googled it. Turns out it was all just a marketing.


Friday, February 04, 2011

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Day 11 - Painted & Ready for Countertops

With a high of 27° F (-3° C to my South American and European readers), today seemed like a great day to stay inside and paint and finish the bathroom vanity.    So I filled, sanded, painted.   Then I sanded, painted, sanded and painted somemore.   Any way, they're done.   All they need now is hardware (pulls). 



 So, today I set up a time for the stone fabricator to come by and build his templates.   He will cut and mount the sink in about a week.   So, that leaves me to finish the tile baseboard, create the mirror and smooth out the drywall to prepare for paint.   

After that, there's the tile backsplash, install the toilet and refinish the tub.  Oh,  I also wanted to show you the drawings of what this was supposed to look like.    It's coming together.