Re: If you had $1 Million in the PP, can you live off of that?
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:49 pm
Sadly, usable mass transit systems are a rarity in this country. The New York metro area is really the gold star, and when I lived there I in no way felt deprived without a car. But nothing else remotely compares. I have co-workers who live carless in San Francisco and they pretty much can't leave it without flying or renting a Zipcar.
Also I feel like municipal services are overrated. Your standard water, gas, and electricity are things you're paying for in addition to your local and city tax burden; same with most public transit systems. That leaves the fire department, police, public schools and maybe libraries? You can eliminate any reliance on the former two mostly through better decisions (having a dog and a gun, building a house out of materials that don't burn), and the latter two seem much more strongly impacted by local culture than tax revenue though.
In general, I don't see a high degree of correlation between tax rates and quality free municipal services. Some of the most notoriously dangerous and corrupt police for example operate in high tax cities like Chicago.
Also I feel like municipal services are overrated. Your standard water, gas, and electricity are things you're paying for in addition to your local and city tax burden; same with most public transit systems. That leaves the fire department, police, public schools and maybe libraries? You can eliminate any reliance on the former two mostly through better decisions (having a dog and a gun, building a house out of materials that don't burn), and the latter two seem much more strongly impacted by local culture than tax revenue though.
In general, I don't see a high degree of correlation between tax rates and quality free municipal services. Some of the most notoriously dangerous and corrupt police for example operate in high tax cities like Chicago.