the interesting thing about taxes is that a) you always hear about "Tax-a-Chusetts and b) my taxes in San Antonio proper were the SAME (give or take $100) as my house here. and my house here cost 3x as much, and has an acre of land.
but then again, we do have state income tax.
but then again, our sales tax is only 5%, not including food or clothes- which are not taxed at all.
i have a feeling that in the end- it all works out to be equal, tax wise.
yes, i see how it would be hard to say no to a big corp. that wants to move into an economically depressed area: see Toyota, PGA... but it seems like they also move out/shut down (levi's, sony...). it seems like the city leaders tend to whore out the city to a temporary solution rather than think about long term livability for its residents.
i'll admit that i'm not looking at this from a unbiased viewpoint. i don't like walmart at all- their business practices in particular. i wont get into it- but i refuse to shop there, and have for a while. i'd rather pay twice as much for something than shop there. besides- they're trying to mess up my once-favorite bike route!
do remember the community in California that was fighting to keep walmart out? it went to court, even- probably state supreme court- i wonder what happened to that case. I don't remember. it was probably last spring sometime. but in any case, that town did not want a walmart in their area. and it seems like no matter what zoning they tried to impliment to keep them out was getting shot down by the big corporate lawyers. so i don't really think walmart would stay out of somewhere they weren't wanted.
but - ahhhhh- i'll not beat a dead horse. i just find it sad that there's no end in site, and communities don't seem to think that there's any other way. I really wish that the communities in our country would try to celebrate their diversity. but somehow it seems like everything is starting to look the same- and all of it seems to be driven by big box stores and fast food. guess i should just move to europe and get it over with
