Okay, we could not close out 2011 without some outrageous story of government excess. This one from
downtown Pittsburgh caught my eye:
The value of a 18-by-10-foot parking space on Mt. Washington jumped from $5,000 to more than $287,000. That’s even more than his condo. Richard Milesky, Jr., the proud owner of the underground parking space, says that until this week, the space was valued at $5,000.
“I think its prima fascia evidence that there’s been no attention to detail,” he said.
Sounds like the words of an anti-government extremist, hey Mr. Obama?
“Well, you had to laugh a little bit because I thought it was a mistake, but then I realized how serious it was.”
Yeah, it is. These boys aren't joking. They expect you to pay a percentage of what they say it is worth. If you could sell it to the government for $287,000 it might not be bad, but they aren't buying. They're just telling you the value they are going to base your tax bill on. And by the way, if you show that the space next to yours sold for $3,000, that won't necessarily oblige them to change their assessment.
Sounds like one of those horror stories that came out of the debate on inheritance taxes (The Death Tax) during the Clinton years. Like the one with the Iowa dairy farmers that were hit with a multimillion dollar bill when their father died. The IRS hired some appraiser in a big city to establish the value of their farm and buildings, and he came up with ridiculous values (like $3-$6 million dollars per building). Now it didn't matter that they could show that no building in their county ever sold for that price. Nor did it matter that no building in the surrounding five counties ever sold for that price. Nor did it matter that they built the buildings themselves for around $100,000 out-of-pocket, for each. They were leery about spending the $250,000 for their legal costs to appeal because they couldn't even afford that. No matter. The judge didn't see anything wrong with the IRS analysis and ruled in a few minutes in their favor. That whole extended family had to declare bankruptcy and dozens in their town lost their jobs in the boutique dairy operation that had built up. One that never made more than a couple hundred thousand after taxes that they immediately plowed back into the business.
ReplyDeleteThe government speaks and you better listen. Meanwhile John Kerry gets a fire hydrant in front of his house moved at a cost to the city of Boston of several $ million, so that he can get another free parking space (or two) for one of his many cars.
Way off topic, but that Sherlock BBC series is back, and the first episode (A Scandal in Belgravia) was a good one. Holmes meets "The Woman." Christmas is in there somewhere, so you may say that this is the last of our Holiday reviews. Definitely worth seeing at Netflix after the season ends and the DVD hits the queue.
ReplyDeleteHey, that sounds great! I'll definitely look for it.
ReplyDeleteI've pretty much been a blog bum. Started three or four posts, but have not been able to get them to completion. I've been having a bit of trouble keeping up with work and such... which is a good thing!