Which state Ballot Measures would you vote for?

[SlowwHand]

Texas gets a lot of their road repair money off required registration and annual safety inspections.

13 states only require federally mandated emissions inspections. These are either state-wide or in select counties.

Alaska (Municipality of Anchorage and Fairbanks North Star Borough) every two years, depending on age and type of vehicle
Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson metro areas only) annually, depending on age and type of vehicle)
California (for most ZIP Codes, every two years for all vehicles made after 1975 which are more than six years old)
Colorado (in some localities, every year or two, depending on age and type of vehicle)
Georgia (metropolitan Atlanta area only, every year, most recent three model year cars are exempt)
Illinois (Chicagoland and eastern suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri)
Indiana (Lake and Porter counties only, every two years)
New Mexico (Albuquerque metro area)
Nevada (Clark County and Washoe County areas)
Ohio (seven counties)
Oregon (Portland and Medford metro areas only)
Washington (urban areas of Clark, King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane counties)
Wisconsin (seven counties in Southeastern Wisconsin, every two years)

These states may or may not have state income tax, but having them makes Texas vehicles safer and go towards our not having a state income tax.

[Wernazuma III]

Here my votes without knowing the exact details of each prop., though, of course. Thus I backed California #2, even if this should actually be a stupid measure (don't know, would have to look into it closer).

Massachusetts Question 2 - Decriminalize Marijuana
California 10 Bonds - Allocate Money to Alternative Energy
California Prop 2 - Regulation of Farm Animal Treatment
Michigan Question 1 - Legalize Medical Marijuana
Michigan Question 2 - Permit Embryonic Stem Cell Research
North Dakota Measure 3 - Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program

[Kirnwaffen]

There's actually a referendum in CO this year designed to make it harder to propose constitutional amendments and easier to amend the revised statues. Hopefully it'll pass. Colorado voters have a long and distinguished history of getting the state into financial trouble with constitutional amendments.

[Arrian]

Connecticut Question 1 (shall we have a constitutional convention?) - No.

Connecticut Question 2 (shall 17-year olds who will be 18 by election day be allowed to vote in primaries?) - Yes.

I note those didn't make the list.

-Arrian

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Shame on me for overlooking such important, once-in-a-generation questions.

I voted for:

Maryland HB 4 - Allow Video Lottery
Massachusetts Question 2 - Decriminalize Marijuana
California 10 Bonds - Allocate Money to Alternative Energy
California Prop 2 - Regulation of Farm Animal Treatment (which is what the greyhound vote should be)
Michigan Question 1 - Legalize Medical Marijuana
Michigan Question 2 - Permit Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Minnesota HF 2285 - Establishes Sales Tax to Fund the Arts
New York Prop 1 - Additional Civil Service Credit for Military Personel
Oregon Measure 60 - Teacher Raises Based on Performance not Seniority
South Carolina Amendment 1 - Raise Age of Consent to 16
Wyoming Amendment A - Modernize Oath of Office

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


And Texas has none of those things?

Texas > Taxachusetts.
NH > Taxachusetts.

I assume that putting NH with TX you're using the same argument?

Great, then a few things.

1.) NH has 1/5th the population of MA. Its largest city is smaller than MA's 3 largest, and only 2,000 bigger than our 4th. It is 41% rural as opposed to our 8.6%. NH is a hub of motorcycles and hunting, MA is a hub of Biotechnology and Academics. We need more money for our infrastructure, services, etc. than New Hampshire does. I love NH (I was born there, currently live 5 mins from border) but I prefer to live in MA thanks to a better quality of life.

2.) Taxes NH has:

* Interest & Dividends Tax
* Business Profits Tax
* Business Enterprise Tax
* Communications Services Tax
* Electricity Consumption Tax
* Meals and Rentals Tax
* Tobacco Tax
* Real Estate Transfer Tax
* Timber Tax
* Gravel Tax
* State Education Property Tax
* Utility Property Tax
* Local Property Tax

They repealed the inheritance tax a few years ago.

3.) Thanks to our biotech and medical fields as well as our universities, MA is currently one of only a handful of states not seeing a recession (though we are seeing deficits.) Removing the income tax will place us in a recession. Thanks, but no thanks.

4.) In my career, since I am my own business, movie tickets, magazines, rentals count as research; clothes count as wardrobe; gym membership is a business expense; drove over 8,000 miles around New England to and from auditions, rehearsals, gigs, and saved every receipt for gas and tolls; union dues; qualified for the Performance Artist Credit. I also got a home heating credit and a renter credit. I got every cent I put into State (and Federal) income taxes back. People who can work within the system can make it work for them.

[Kuciwalker]

I voted to let the Virginia park service sell bonds.

[Jaguar]

I voted for "allow video lottery" in real life. Many of the dumb slot machine addicts in Maryland just head off to Delaware to feed their habit. We might as well keep that money in-state so when the slot machine addicts go broke and homeless, the state has money to fund programs for them.

[Ben Kenobi]

4.) In my career, since I am my own business, movie tickets, magazines, rentals count as research; clothes count as wardrobe; gym membership is a business expense; drove over 8,000 miles around New England to and from auditions, rehearsals, gigs, and saved every receipt for gas and tolls; union dues; qualified for the Performance Artist Credit. I also got a home heating credit and a renter credit. I got every cent I put into State (and Federal) income taxes back. People who can work within the system can make it work for them.

Since you believe in income taxes because it will provide better services, why are you trying to evade them as much as possible?

Clearly you don't want to pay a dollar more then you have to, so why shouldn't other people?

Me, I don't like income taxes, and I think that many of the services and infrastructure you are talking about can be privatised. If MA has more people, it stands to reason that they should have less taxes (due to economy of scale) but we see quite the opposite.

I have an aunt and an uncle who live in New Hampshire, who quite like it there, and they are disgusted by Massachusetts. They feel you are a disgrace to folks in New England, almost as bad as the nascar fans in the south.

I couldn't let that stand, so I argued that he was short shrifting southerners. They are much more sensible then the Taxachussans.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

My argument was that we need more taxes because we have a more complex infrastructure to fund, more necessary civil services, more teachers. A place with only 8% rural population has a much higher ratio of need than does a 41% rural state. Did you skip that part of the argument?

As far as what you commented on, I was showing that MA doesn't just have taxes, we also have credits. However, these credits are for those who need to have them - such as a child credit to help negate the cost of supporting a child.

We have a flat tax of 5.3%. Then we have credits for those who are more likely to need more money.

No income tax leads to higher burden on those families as opposed to people who don't have children. Then the family with children will have to pay even more for things like day care programs which will lose funding without an income tax. Schools will lose funding and private schools (you're a fan of privatization) will be the better option, further increasing the burden. Instead, a tax credit means more money for the kid and more funding for the programs the kid needs.

I much prefer a system that has everyone contribute then helps where necessary instead of everyone left to fend for themselves.

But then, that's why I'm a liberal and you're a vampire.