| The Santee Taxpayers Association is committed to efficient cost-effective government and opposes unnecessary new taxes. |
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To learn more about Santee Taxpayers Association projects, please visit:
United Taxpayers |
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Test Your Tax Knowledge about Growing Cities*
1. The bigger cities get the lower taxes are. T or F?
2. The faster cities grow, the lower local taxes are. Tor F?
3. Police protection costs(per capita) are less in big cities. T or F?
4. Crime rates are higher in big cities. T or F?
5. The more cities grow, the more people are unemployed. T or F?
6. Bigger cities tend to have lower costs of living and housing? T or F?
7. Growth creates costs, but new tax revenue more than offset the added expenses? T or F?
8. More business subsidies mean greater prosperity for local residents. T or F?
9. Environmental regulation is bad for the economy? T or F?
10. Developed land usually produces more net revenues for the city (tax revenues minus cost of public services) than undeveloped land? T or F?
Answers:1)F; 2)F; 3)F; 4)F; 5)T; 6)F; 7)F; 8)F; 9)F; 10)F
*Eben Fodor; "Better Not Bigger - How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community" |
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Join the Santee Taxpayers Association!
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If you are not already a member of the Santee Taxpayers Association, please join us in the ongoing effort to promote efficient cost-effective government.
Email SanteeTaxpayersAssociation@cox.net
G. Thomas Walters, Chair
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Santee Town Center
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Where are You on the Growth Spectrum?*
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1. How much more traffic congestion would you like in your community?
1. There is already plenty of traffic, thanks.
2. Just a little bit more, please.
3. A whole lot more.
2. How much more air and water pollution would you prefer?
1. We have too much already.
2. Just a little more pollution, please.
3. Give me toxic soup!
3. How much more farmland and open space do you want to be developed?
1. It would be nice if we could save what we have left.
2. I suppose we have to sacrifice this land in the name of "progress."
3. I can't bear the sight of undeveloped land going to waste.
4. How much higher do you want your taxes to go?
1. For what I'm getting, I think I'm paying enough already.
2. I'm happy to pay more, even if I can't see any benefits.
5. How much more of your local natural resources (fresh water, electric power supply, forests, aggregates and minerals) do you want consumed?
1. I'd like to conserve our natural resources and use them as efficiently as possible.
2. We have to sacrifice our resources to create prosperity.
3. We should sell all our natural resources for a quick buck.
6. Would you prefer that your city government continue to subsidize new development, or should they use the money to fund schools, extend library hours, offer day care at community centers, create cultural and recreational programs, and still have enough left over for a tax cut?
1. I'll take the expanded services and the tax cut, please.
2. Let's keep the development fire stoked with my tax dollars.
7. How much bigger do you want your community to be?
1. It's already big enough.
2. Let's just keep growing and see what happens!
3. I love big cities but am too lazy to move to one.
*Eben Fodor; "Better Not Bigger - How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your Community" |
| The Twelve Big Myths of Growth |
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"The issue of urban growth is permeated with stereotyping, platitudes, cliches, rhetoric, questionable assumptions, and outright myths."
Read More |
| Discovering the Real Costs of Growth |
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"Most of us who have been exposed to rapid urban growth can testify to its negative impacts on our lives and our surroundings - lost open space and environmental quality, over crowded schools, traffic congestion, noise, rising crime rates, higher cost of living, and so on. Few of these costs have ever been quantified in a useful way. Even the straightforward economic costs associated with growth, such as providing new or expanded public facilities, are relatively unknown. While the benefits of growth are widely proclaimed, information about growth related costs is surprisingly scarce. This lack of knowledge is of particular concern given the magnitude of public investments necessary to accommodate growth."
Read More |
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