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Economic Competitiveness


PVDJack

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What kind of comment is this?

did you even check the articles?

Sheesh. What's next, calling me a poopyhead because of my opinions?

It's my reaction to your view on Rhode Island on this topic. It just happens to be the opposite of yours. That's all, nothing more. I'm not disrespecting you. I'm just not agreeing with you.

I did read the articles and I'm sorry, but most are very biased in many respects and conveniently leave out many things to make only their opinionated point. I agree there is certainly room for imporvement, but Rhode Island is not that bad.

Many people seem to hold up the south and west as some great economic power. Sure, if you want to work for minumum wage at Walmart without benefits or in a call center, go for it. Otherwise, I still say Rhode Island is not that bad. That's why I live here.

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It's my reaction to your view on Rhode Island on this topic. It just happens to be the opposite of yours. That's all, nothing more. I'm not disrespecting you. I'm just not agreeing with you.

I did read the articles and I'm sorry, but most are very biased in many respects and conveniently leave out many things to make only their opinionated point. I agree there is certainly room for imporvement, but Rhode Island is not that bad.

Many people seem to hold up the south and west as some great economic power. Sure, if you want to work for minumum wage at Walmart without benefits or in a call center, go for it. Otherwise, I still say Rhode Island is not that bad. That's why I live here.

Then make that point. "RI isn't that bad no matter what you say" doesn't really make a compelling argument.

I'd like to know what you really think are biases. It's just a watchdog group. It's not a southern power group or anything like that. Some of the facts are actually in Rhode Islands favor. But it would be nice if instead of just posting "you're wrong" you actually took the time to say why I (or they, in this case, since all I did was post a link) are wrong. Basically so far what I've got is "I disagree with what they are saying, so they must be biased."

Do you disagree with their data collection? Do you disagree with their presentation? I don't know. I think you just disagree with saying anything bad about RI. Of course, the articles don't even do that, they just rank the states without drawing conclusions.

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Then make that point. "RI isn't that bad no matter what you say" doesn't really make a compelling argument.

I'd like to know what you really think are biases. It's just a watchdog group. It's not a southern power group or anything like that. Some of the facts are actually in Rhode Islands favor. But it would be nice if instead of just posting "you're wrong" you actually took the time to say why I (or they, in this case, since all I did was post a link) are wrong. Basically so far what I've got is "I disagree with what they are saying, so they must be biased."

Do you disagree with their data collection? Do you disagree with their presentation? I don't know. I think you just disagree with saying anything bad about RI. Of course, the articles don't even do that, they just rank the states without drawing conclusions.

I didn't once say you were wrong. I just said I don't agree with you. I said it wasn't that bad, I didn't say I had a problem with saying anything bad about RI. I'm not an idiot, thank you. That would be you projecting something about me when you don't even know me.

There is no reason to have a "compelling argument" with you or these reports you posted. You presented a group of reports I found to be somewhat biased and don't fully agree regardless of how they are presented. I certainly hope you are not taking offense to this. I don't mean it in that fashion. I just don't subscribe to the "Rhode Island is all bad" clan. Again, that's why I live here.

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Not to say that the Tax Foundation's methods of determining tax burderns are right or wrong, but they are rejected by some economists.

The CBPP complaint seems to be that the Tax Foundation relies heavily on averages to calculate "typical" tax liabilities. Kind of like the example of Bill Gates who goes into a bar and so the average customer in the bar is a billionaire.

http://www.cbpp.org/taxday98.htm

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  • 2 weeks later...

Taken together, I find this pair of Projo articles a bit disheartening. Strikes me that as a State we don't yet have the means and/or the will to invest seriously in our economic future:

A blueprint for growth

Mass. considers financing for biotechnology, life sciences

PVDJack

seems like we have the will, or at least some will... but we don't have the means. they need to find a way to get money without just using taxes.

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I haven't really had a chance to read through much of the budget stuff yet. But I heard about the internet sales tax on TV last night. I really think we're moving totally in the wrong direction on that one. First off, I don't see how it will work, how can RI get every internet retailer to charge us sales tax? More likely, online retailers will just stop shipping to RI, that will be good. :rolleyes: It will also simply drive more people to Massachusetts, where they can pay Mass' lower tax, and continnue to not report it to RI. Also, I thought republicans were all about lowering taxes. I'm wanting to see the sales tax rolled back to 5%, not extended to more areas. Drop the tax to 5% and people have no reason to drive to Mass. (remember, RIs don't like to drive more than 3/4 of a mile if they don't have to).

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I haven't really had a chance to read through much of the budget stuff yet. But I heard about the internet sales tax on TV last night. I really think we're moving totally in the wrong direction on that one. First off, I don't see how it will work, how can RI get every internet retailer to charge us sales tax? More likely, online retailers will just stop shipping to RI, that will be good. :rolleyes: It will also simply drive more people to Massachusetts, where they can pay Mass' lower tax, and continnue to not report it to RI. Also, I thought republicans were all about lowering taxes. I'm wanting to see the sales tax rolled back to 5%, not extended to more areas. Drop the tax to 5% and people have no reason to drive to Mass. (remember, RIs don't like to drive more than 3/4 of a mile if they don't have to).

i am outraged that the governor would even consider sales tax on items bought online. if he does this, he also has to include catalog sales and phone sales. it's kind of ridiculous though. if he's worried about people buying items online instead of in stores and losing that tax, he needs to lower the sales tax. people will continue to go to MA or CT to buy stuff at lower sales tax (although CT isn't much better at 6%).

and what's up with the extra 1% sales tax at restaurants?

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Not to defend the governor (I am a supporter on many issues however), but we're facing a very significant deficit. There is no doubt that programs need to be cut and some revenue raised. We can't have our cake and eat it too here. I'm hoping a deficit will finally bring the General Assembly around to lessening entitlements (5 years on welfare?!?!) and reeling in the absurd generosity that the state pays to it's workers and the public labor unions.

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I don't understand how he can be so pleased with himself over repealing the car tax, then go and expand the sales tax. I don't understand why we shouldn't have a car tax. I'm not clear on where the car tax money was going, but it should be going to roads, and people who have cars should be taxed to maintain that infrastructure. The car tax should have been given to RIPTA in my opinion to help them get out of the hole. Is/was the car tax similar to the local excise tax in Massachusetts?

It's my understanding (I wasn't here when this happened), that the sales tax went to 7% after the banking crisis, and was supposed to go back down (I'm not sure where it was before 5, 6?) after that passed. One would expect a republican Governor to be all over making good on that promise.

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Not to defend the governor (I am a supporter on many issues however), but we're facing a very significant deficit. There is no doubt that programs need to be cut and some revenue raised. We can't have our cake and eat it too here. I'm hoping a deficit will finally bring the General Assembly around to lessening entitlements (5 years on welfare?!?!) and reeling in the absurd generosity that the state pays to it's workers and the public labor unions.

I agree. But this sales tax I just don't get. There are obvious benefits to lowering the sales tax. Even if it doesn't drop to 5%, drop it a half or quarter percent with a timetable for further reductions. I never expected to see an expansion!

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I don't understand how he can be so pleased with himself over repealing the car tax, then go and expand the sales tax. I don't understand why we shouldn't have a car tax. I'm not clear on where the car tax money was going, but it should be going to roads, and people who have cars should be taxed to maintain that infrastructure. The car tax should have been given to RIPTA in my opinion to help them get out of the hole. Is/was the car tax similar to the local excise tax in Massachusetts?

It's my understanding (I wasn't here when this happened), that the sales tax went to 7% after the banking crisis, and was supposed to go back down (I'm not sure where it was before 5, 6?) after that passed. One would expect a republican Governor to be all over making good on that promise.

the car tax is ridiculously high here though. that's the biggest problem with it. $76 for every $1000 of value in your car. If you own a $10,000 car, that's $760 a year, due in one lump sum. That's the tax for providence, it's obviously different for other towns and cities, but as a whole it's very high in this state compared to others. the last time i paid tax on a car was in CT on my 89 camry (which didn't get taxed here because of the age). i paid no more than $60 and it was valued at about $4000 when i first had it. i now have a much newer car, valued around $10,000. i don't think i can afford the taxes (we'll see when the time comes). keep the car tax, lower it extensively and make it across the board. i have no problems with paying taxes on my car, but if i have to, so should the guy with the 20 year old honda. i was surprised when i didn't have to pay it on my previous car.

the sales tax should be lowered and should not be applied to everything.

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I agree. But this sales tax I just don't get. There are obvious benefits to lowering the sales tax. Even if it doesn't drop to 5%, drop it a half or quarter percent with a timetable for further reductions. I never expected to see an expansion!

I don't know if it was always clear, but use tax has always been on the books, and use tax applies to all internet transactions. States have been spitting rhetoric about enforcing use tax for years. At some point, the idea will gain enough traction to be implemented.

If RI aggressively pursues out-of-state internet retailers to charge a use-tax and other states do not, then I agree that people will just stop buying online, and probably retailers will just choose not to ship to RI. It's not as if the boundless population of RI is really a big enough market to give any retailers pause about leaving the market.

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It is extremely expensive to own a car in Providence. Between the extremely high insurance rates, the sales tax, and the fact that you have to have off-street parking even in the more rural-ish neighborhoods, it is easy to see why so many people are trying to get by with clunkers.

All of which makes it inconceivable that there isn't more support for public transport.

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It is extremely expensive to own a car in Providence. Between the extremely high insurance rates, the sales tax, and the fact that you have to have off-street parking even in the more rural-ish neighborhoods, it is easy to see why so many people are trying to get by with clunkers.

All of which makes it inconceivable that there isn't more support for public transport.

i tried to get by with my "clunker". it actually ran well... but someone hit me on 95 and totaled it. i woudl've bought another one, but i wanted comfort in knowing that i would be buying a car that i wouldn't be putting a ton of money into in repairs.

the insurance rates i can deal with, the tax, i cannot. luckily, i think by the time i pay it, it'll have been reduced for the value of my car. but they need to just reduce it to a small percentage and apply it across the board. there's no reason people with clunkers shouldn't be paying taxes on them. after all, these cars are usually worse on gas and emit more pollutants into the air.

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I'm as pro-mass transit as anyone here, but everyone should know that RI's car tax is amazingly high. First, it's the only state I've ever lived in where I pay any car tax at all. Secondly, it's based on their value of your car, which may (or may not) have any relationship with reality. Third, I've known people who have leased and they have to pay as well, despite not truly owning the vehicle.

I know people who go to great lengths to illegally (and unethically) register their cars in other nearby states to avoid the tax. If you own a $30,000 car, for example, that tax becomes one of your biggest payments of the year.

- Garris

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