<<You really need to focus on writing more clearly. >>
Sorry, I just assumed you could fill in the blanks, given your involvement in municipal government. But it's my own private theory, so you are quite right, the missing links should have been filled in so you'd know what I was getting at.
<<But so you know, when we set millage rates in this town we do not consider what the fed rate is on income taxes. We do not even consider what the county charges. We are sensitive to burdens and we might charge a lower millage for a longer time as part of a compromise bargain, funding next year what we had planned on doing this year etc. or we might institute user fees in lieu of millage.>>
Well, it's called the mill rate up here, but I always figured it had to bear some relation to the ability of the citizens to pay. For example, I wouldln't think that some burg in the depths of Appalachia would set a mill rate at the same level as Palm Beach does. So whether the councilors realize it or not, the disposable income level of the residents somehow has to figure into their calculations of the mill rate. Or not. I dunno, this is just a theory of mine. I leave it to some economist to do a study of mill rates in relation to changes in federal income tax rates. Apparently I have found one person who vehemently disagrees with my theory.
<<We get money from the feds, not the other way around.>>
Yeah that's a given, same way it is here.
<<Granted federal lawmakers do use income tax to fund whatever they want , but in the context of local politicians paying huge amounts for planning studies the military industrial complex is not in the equation.>>
Well, you're the man who should know. At least it's not consciously and not directly in the equation. Thanks for the insight.
