TAXED FOR HAVING NO DOUBLE GLAZING? TAXED IF YOU DO! That’s so more MPs can take longer vacations.
on 08/25/2009 at 05:22 AM
I think that this is all about tearing down the past and making big $$$ in the process. New is supposed to be the bestest - but WTF are they going to do in 20 or 50 years when the big ideas they forced us into either are causing more problems or crumble into dust? Oh yeah, they won’t be around to see the result of their arrogant folly.
Buildings that stood the test of time - did it for a reason. The crap they are putting together now doesn’t last 50 years - much less 85. And there is a reason - because they are caught up in presentation and exacting ‘green’ bs - not in real solid construction. Which of course here in America is done by illegals - so you are screwed in so many ways.
So I will bring this back to the story - taxes. The youngest daughter and I went down into KY three times in a week - mostly shopping but we did do a day long trip down to the Ft Knox/E’town area to see the two grown girls and the two youngest grandchildren. KY is booming - every single city/town/area - including Ft. Knox has new housing, new shopping centers - new, new, new. Here it is crumbling down (now North & East of the city - another story - city dwellers fleeing to the better areas) and businesses are closing or fleeing. Diff? Unions (here is in the firm, unrelenting grip of Unions) and Taxes (one of tv reporters stumbled in 2007 I think it was and said on air - Proportionally we have the highest taxes in the country- what she had meant to say is that Proportionally we have the highest [property]taxes in the county). Sad to say, either way, what she said was true.
I hope that whatever job my hubby gets offered next year - we can leave this place - I remembered exactly what it was that made me leave way back in 1973. Or we win the lotto and it will all be moot.
Aha, I think I see the predicament. It’s conservation vs. luxury, and the taxman gets you for both.
For your regular home, Big
BotherBrother wants you to be green and having double glazing, whether that’s two pane insulated low E glass, or add on storm windows. But they want that for your main home only. That’s conservation.For your porch, deck, balcony, promenade ... whatever they call it over there, if you put windows on it then it’s what Americans call “winterized”. And if it’s winterized, then it’s considered an interior part of your house, not some thing added to the outside of it. Thus the footprint of your home goes up, and so does the tax rate. Because adding to the size of your home is “luxury”. It’s been that way here for ages in most places. Even putting screens onto an open porch counts, although some areas think of this more as “seasonalizing” than “winterizing” and only hit you up for a slight tax increase.
In New Jersey, if you have a wooden patio deck on the back, and it’s attached to the house, then your taxes go up. Lots of people leave a small gap and build free standing porches, which requires a more sturdy design but saves them the tax hit. Of course, if they roof those decks over and put in screens or storm windows, then they’re back to having something like a “Florida room” and get taxed at a higher rate. So you also see a lot of roll up awnings over those decks, and some have roll down mosquito netting sides.
You can’t win, unless you live underground. So build yourself Bag End, but make sure to used double glazing and storm windows on your hobbit burrow.
Wardmama, I can guarantee you that New Jersey has higher property taxes than Kentucky. How about $4500 per year for a 1250 square foot condo on NO property, one that’s out in a semi-rural area? A mid size house, 2500 sq ft on 1/3 acre, is taxed over $10,000 per year. And if you live in the urban areas? Holy cow. It’s almost double that.
JayD I suspect your cough may be exacerbated by the damp. Often there are easy fixes to damp problems. The house should have a “damp course” about for or five bricks up is a layer of tar or rubber to prevent moisture from the soil being wicked up through the brickwork. No doubt before you had the cavity wall insulation there was no physical connection between the inner wall and the outer, but now you have “insulation” in place the moisture can bridge the gap. It is worth inspecting the exterior of the house for any points where pipes or gutters are leaking above the damp course. There are lots of crooked builders who con people saying they can fix the damp problems and charge them thousands of £££’s when the actual fix involved is usually very simple.
The old time builders left the gap for a good reason, the insulation IF correctly fitted should have been fine but any bubbles will track the water, there is a lot of damp in the UK, Email me for affordable solutions I used in my old home there.
Posted by Chris Edwards
08/25/2009 at 06:15 PM
08/25/2009 at 07:19 AM
