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[quote=”kimball”]But you dont address the real question.
How much tax is enough ? 75% 80% 90% ?
Cant you see that its all tied together ?[/quote]There seems to be some disparity in the argument here.
I see one side providing citation for their comments and the other side just making unfounded comments.
There is [u][b]NO ONE[/b][/u] paying anything like 36% on their income at present. It’s what they call the marginal tax rate. You only pay the higher tax rate on what exceeds the next lowest marginal rate.
I’m tired of hearing crybabies who feel like they have to have all the toys and accessories of life and are having a hard time keeping up with the guy who makes more than he does.
I never made more than $55,000 a year and did just fine. You keep far more than that in your pocket every year and do nothing but whine. Now I’m retired in Costa Rica and own my home on an acre of land outright.
Everyone knows the tax system is screwed up in the States but your going to have to elect smarter people to represent you in congress to get it corrected.
[quote=”kimball”]Unions are a big part of the problem. I saw it first hand when i was in the local 7, how the negotiating team would act like they owned the companies or something.[/quote]
That’s what happens when the union membership relinquishes control to a few greedy leaders and then agrees to demand what they recommend. It isn’t the fault of the unions per se it’s the fault of the membership electing abusive leadership and standing idly by while they drain the company.[quote=”maravilla”]when the colon was 580 last year we thought we were in fat city.[/quote]
When the colon was at 580 we were in fat city. I planned our lifestyle with 500 to 1 in mind.
The 580-1 exchange rate just allowed me to accomplish more than I had expected.
[quote=”Bandera”]Now there has been a serious drop to 495 c to $1US. What happens if the dollar drops to 400c or 300c. Haven’t you retirees noticed the change? What can a retiree do?
Stan
Bandera[/quote]Sounds like there hasn’t been an economic problem in the U.S. listening to that.
QE1 and QE2 effectively devalued the dollar by 20% and people are sure noticing the difference in imported goods and that is on top of inflation on U.S. produced goods.
When we get smart enough to start electing sane representatives to congress rather than idiot ideologues whose interest is in getting re-elected rather than the future of the nation things will improve but not before then.
[quote=”rosiemaji”]Is it true that local buses are free if you are over 65? I have never heard this. Is this only for certain areas or is it nation wide? I am 67 and I have been paying the same fare as every one else.[/quote]
From Ciudad Colon as far as San Jose I haven’t paid a fare yet. Just hand the driver your cedula and most busses have a magnetic reader that reads the information. I have had instances where the drive4r had to hand write the information.
[quote=”maravilla”]wat happened to that lock box gore was blabbing about? how could they get away with this theft? they should all be lined up against a wall and shot. that’s MY money. it’s not a hand-out and i paid in plenty and i want it all back WITH INTEREST!!!!![/quote]
The fact is that the Social Security Act restricts the trust fund to investing only in instruments with the “full faith and credit of the U.S. government”.
The only investments that qualify are treasury instruments in which the trust fund has invested since the beginning.
The trust fund is not broke, the government is broke and we are facing a day when the treasury department will no longer be capable of redeeming those instruments when they are presented for payment.
Personal income taxes are the lowest they have been since 1932, corporate taxes, although the highest in the industrial world, are filled with loopholes and take in too little taxes. These tax laws have been passed by congress not any president although the president has the option of signing or vetoing.
Government giveaways passed by congress are costing hundreds of billions of dollars and I’m not talking about social programs, I’m talking about corporate subsidies, foreign aid, wars, giveaways to the wealthy and the like.
In the end it has been our Social Security an Medicare/Medicaid contributions that have kept the government afloat for the past 30 years.
Now, knowing those facts, if the federal government decides to end SS & Medicare/Medicaid there is going to be a civil war in the States and Sprite can take that to the bank.
I agree with David.
It could be a potentially dangerous undertaking under the best of circumstances,
If the U.S. was not in control of the list it would probably find itself listed as a tier 2 or 3 nation itself.
Illegal importation into the U.S. for sex from Central America and the Far East has been an issue in the States for decades.
I won’t minimise this issue but the larger problem in Costa Rica is the local men having sex with underage girls. Much of the time it is incestuous.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]We are [b]definitely[/b] not in one of the ‘American conclaves in Guanacaste’ and why would we ‘dress and act like most of the locals’?.
We are not flashy and most of the [i]Ticos[/i] have more money than us!
You, [i]señor[/i] are talking nonsense.[/quote]No one will ever mistake me for a Tico and I can’t agree that trying to become Tico is going to change things.
My life in the States was probably very close to what the life of my Tico neighbors is here putting me much closer to their level than the vast majority of expats.
With great good luck rather than wealth we were able to find our way here. Our neighbors, for the most part, own or are buying their homes as we own ours. At the lowest level I think that they know that what happens to us could happen to any one of them and they tend to be protective of us as well as each other.
My nearest neighbor is a stand-offish fellow but anything happens I know he would be here to help as I would help him.My bet would be that your robberies were done by some local ne’er do well looking for his next high as ours was. Your Tico neighbors know who they are as ours know the most likely person involved in our incident. He knows I know because I stare him down whenever I see him even now three years later.
[quote=”costaricafinca”] [b]waggoner[/b] you have posted that you have a large Costa Rican family living with you, plus your dogs, so possibly [b]there is always somebody[/b] on the property.
Our nearest [i]’Gringo'[/i] neighbors 3 dogs were poisoned during a robbery attempt 2 weeks ago, and one died.[/quote]Much of the time there is someone here but our comings and goings are intentionally irregular as they were in the States for the same reasons.
When we travel away from home we make no display of anything of value with us and our lifestyle does not indicate that we have anything more than the typical Tico family.
When our Tico family visits their relatives in Guanacaste my wife and I have no qualms about going about our business with frequent trips to San Jose.
We depend on the dogs as our warning system and did have one threat to poison the dogs through Marcos. Marcos had a conversation with the gentleman which ended the threat.
My wife and I have only been here for 3 1/2 years but have not experienced other than one petty theft when we first moved in.
We live on an acre of land without fences, walls, gates or bars. We know no one personally that has been a victim of any crime, petty or major, other than our lone isolated incident.
We will be installing a fence before the first of the year to keep the dogs from harassing strangers outside of the property.
[quote=”pranaspakeywest”] So here is the question: If I do not go with the $10,000 intensely bred and trained German Shepard, then is there a way to have a “regular” dog trained here in Costa Rica to be a proper guard dog? Safe, reliable and not $10,000?
Thanks for any advice.[/quote]We live in the Ciudad Colon area on an acre of land without fences, gates or bars on our home. We have six dogs that have been salvaged from the streets that provide a warning when strangers are near our property and they do confront them.
The dogs have a natural sense of territory and have been taught the limits of the property. We trained the dogs ourselves and they have been introduced to and know our neighbors.
It is not necessary to have a trained and aggressive animal for protection. It is only necessary to pay attention to their behavior.
