Not on food, nor on things like rent or utilities. Even by this standard the wealthy in Washington pay more than their share of the common burden.
And this doesn't even get into subsidized medical care, food, housing and so on provided by Washington State. By that measure we actively pay many of our citizens for graciously choosing to live here and be lazy or have kids they can't afford or pursue a valueless education they won't ever use.
Don't get me wrong. If you want to have 12 kids and take a degree in basket weaving or Sitar playing from Evergreen State while working at McDonalds that's your outlook. Just don't ask me to contribute penny one to the upkeep of your kids, or the cost of your education or your medical care or your food or housing. I have a family that is my responsibility. Your family is not.
Yeah totally need to do this on the 28th, because the Washington vs Washington State game (on the 26th) is far more important and it stands to reason, one is going to need a few days to recover from that game.
@7 - Renters do not pay property taxes. Period. You pay "rent" in order to occupy (Ha! No pun intended.) a dwelling. There are lots of costs that could/should/would be factored into what a landlord charges for rent, but as a tenant, you do not pay property taxes.
I do have to agree that the idea of raising property taxes isn't really a popular one. I pay almost $6K a year in property taxes to support lots of local important functions in society...Most that I do not see a benefit from. I do think we have an obligation to contribute to the general fund, but as a graduate of UW (who still has the student loan debt to prove it), why am I further subsidizing active students today?
I can try to add costs for upkeep, property tax, mortgage and so on into the rents I charge for the 3 properties on which I collect rent. Sometimes I can succeed. Mostly the rents are determined by what the area will support. Part of the investment decision is whether the rents will meet or exceed your costs as a property owner, certainly, but this is always a risk. At any rate the property tax is always my burden, whether the house is vacant or fully paid off and making sackfuls of money each month.
As often as not, the landlord pays out more than he or she takes in each month. As an investment strategy the increasing value of the property over time is the goal in these cases, not the month to month profit from a tenant. On occasion you get lucky and the numbers work to a profit, but this isn't the rule for most smaller landlords, certainly not in the short term. Over time, certainly, as mortgages pay down and rentals increase with inflation this can become a living, but you're talking about a decade or more for this to happen generally.
I realize landlords and lawyers are a sort of standing punchline for liberal jokes, but both serve a needed function. Not everyone is well served by home ownership, or can afford it. But everyone needs somewhere to live.
Anyone who has been making 4.5%/year over the past few years of the great recession is doing quite well. Anyone who has been making 10%/year during that time is either lying or has got lucky on the kind of extremely risky investments that you don't want your endowment involved in.
Also, now that inflation is back, you need to be plowing the first 3%/year of your returns back into your principal just to make sure it doesn't loose real value.
Those advocating #3 either don't understand this stuff, or, worse, they do understand it, and are willing to sacrifice the long-term viability of the endowment in the hope of short-term gains.
@ 10, unless you pay for the property tax on your rental homes from money you make at your day job, and NOT from rents you collected, then you're being pedantic. And if you're renting out homes that cost you more than you can collect in rent, you're a foolish landlord.
I don't support a property tax increase in a state that does not levy taxes on corporate taxes. I disagree with the statement that the rich pay their fair share. Washington's regressive tax structure has the poorest paying 17% of their incomes in taxes and the richest 1% paying a mere 2.5%. This can be turned around by lowering sales and property taxes.Changing the B&O tax to favor small businesses - or doing away with it all together. The state needs a graduated income tax starting at $200,000 and end to corporate loopholes - especially Boeing's Billion dollar cash cow.
We all pay when the rich get tax breaks! During the time that they were given tax preferential, income earners saw major tax increases via payroll taxes. The middle-class also saw a higher percentage of their incomes go to taxes with the increase in sales and property taxes. As the rich will reveling in the money they saved by paying less taxes, voters were asked to approve this or that bond in order to pay for this or that. There is also the fact that when the government makes cuts (in order to give corporations tax breaks) they cut education, healthcare, library services, bus services, and road improvement. This has now resulted in tuition increases, higher medical costs, and also higher fares, fines, and fees. Gosh and the state can raise revenue by putting more speed traps in order to get more money from traffic tickets.
Will @17: You mean something like VDE? Over the last 5 years, it's has been up 20% in some years, down 40% in one year, and has averaged about... 4%/year over that time period?
Look, I'm sure you can find some ticker that has been doing really great over the last 5 years. A few months ago, NFLX would have been a good example. Wouldn't it have been just peachy if the UW had put its endowment into that stock?
Setting aside the fact that UW is an utter rip-off and is paying more than one professor 500k a year, wouldn't it be easier to attend a school that you could afford? You don't have the right to attend any school you want if you can't come up with the funds. Go to WSU, Western. or CWU. Those are around half the tuition cost of UW.
@19
Tuition for Western and Central are currently around $7k per year, UW and WSU are both just south of $11k per year (WSU is currently more expensive after adding tuition and course fees).
Dividends in the 1-2 percent range plus growth of 6-8 percent, are still what one should aim for.
Normally, a University Endowment does not invest in distressed corporate bonds, which can get you 12-15 percent returns, but at a higher risk.
A bunch of people who don't pay taxes are demanding that others who do pay more?
Sounds pretty much like the Democrat voting base.
Not on food, nor on things like rent or utilities. Even by this standard the wealthy in Washington pay more than their share of the common burden.
And this doesn't even get into subsidized medical care, food, housing and so on provided by Washington State. By that measure we actively pay many of our citizens for graciously choosing to live here and be lazy or have kids they can't afford or pursue a valueless education they won't ever use.
Don't get me wrong. If you want to have 12 kids and take a degree in basket weaving or Sitar playing from Evergreen State while working at McDonalds that's your outlook. Just don't ask me to contribute penny one to the upkeep of your kids, or the cost of your education or your medical care or your food or housing. I have a family that is my responsibility. Your family is not.
I do have to agree that the idea of raising property taxes isn't really a popular one. I pay almost $6K a year in property taxes to support lots of local important functions in society...Most that I do not see a benefit from. I do think we have an obligation to contribute to the general fund, but as a graduate of UW (who still has the student loan debt to prove it), why am I further subsidizing active students today?
Ever rented out a house? As a landlord I mean?
I can try to add costs for upkeep, property tax, mortgage and so on into the rents I charge for the 3 properties on which I collect rent. Sometimes I can succeed. Mostly the rents are determined by what the area will support. Part of the investment decision is whether the rents will meet or exceed your costs as a property owner, certainly, but this is always a risk. At any rate the property tax is always my burden, whether the house is vacant or fully paid off and making sackfuls of money each month.
As often as not, the landlord pays out more than he or she takes in each month. As an investment strategy the increasing value of the property over time is the goal in these cases, not the month to month profit from a tenant. On occasion you get lucky and the numbers work to a profit, but this isn't the rule for most smaller landlords, certainly not in the short term. Over time, certainly, as mortgages pay down and rentals increase with inflation this can become a living, but you're talking about a decade or more for this to happen generally.
I realize landlords and lawyers are a sort of standing punchline for liberal jokes, but both serve a needed function. Not everyone is well served by home ownership, or can afford it. But everyone needs somewhere to live.
Seriously, do you expect to fill up your gas tank for free, subsidized by the hard working people of Seattle?
What degree did you get, basket weaving?
Anyone who has been making 4.5%/year over the past few years of the great recession is doing quite well. Anyone who has been making 10%/year during that time is either lying or has got lucky on the kind of extremely risky investments that you don't want your endowment involved in.
Also, now that inflation is back, you need to be plowing the first 3%/year of your returns back into your principal just to make sure it doesn't loose real value.
Those advocating #3 either don't understand this stuff, or, worse, they do understand it, and are willing to sacrifice the long-term viability of the endowment in the hope of short-term gains.
We all pay when the rich get tax breaks! During the time that they were given tax preferential, income earners saw major tax increases via payroll taxes. The middle-class also saw a higher percentage of their incomes go to taxes with the increase in sales and property taxes. As the rich will reveling in the money they saved by paying less taxes, voters were asked to approve this or that bond in order to pay for this or that. There is also the fact that when the government makes cuts (in order to give corporations tax breaks) they cut education, healthcare, library services, bus services, and road improvement. This has now resulted in tuition increases, higher medical costs, and also higher fares, fines, and fees. Gosh and the state can raise revenue by putting more speed traps in order to get more money from traffic tickets.
Well?
Look, I'm sure you can find some ticker that has been doing really great over the last 5 years. A few months ago, NFLX would have been a good example. Wouldn't it have been just peachy if the UW had put its endowment into that stock?
Tuition for Western and Central are currently around $7k per year, UW and WSU are both just south of $11k per year (WSU is currently more expensive after adding tuition and course fees).
Year over year, beating the market isn't that hard, but it does take some effort to understand cycles and where the money is really going.
Bet you were surprised by the Japan move with the Yen.