One of my ancestors that fought in the Rev War was paid in land after the war was over. No property tax, no income tax, build what you want, plant what you want with no permits needed. Then the control freaks got a grip...

Absolutely. Property tax is theft.
Imagine selling these ideas to our forefathers...

I remember when our government gave people 40 acres and a mule... Just hoping they would make the land valuable. And boy did we.

Now, they tax us on the value we ADDED to the land... Interesting, no...

Agreed.
Even when there is no corruption, the situation is that there is no private home ownership when the
tax district expects "rent" forever and can steal the property if the "owner" doesn't comply.

Thanks OGC -

except the local taxing authorities are committing fraud on a scale NEVER SEEN before.

You can find a guy suing in Texas, and I think 7 states are signing on.

Effectively, the schools/Counties have borrowed money to the hilt, and now they must borrow more just to make the payments on the interest.

This guy found the government was contacting the appraisers, telling them what the appraised values needed to be, so they could raise enough money to keep the lights on. (ie, regardless of the market values of the homes). They've literally been caught, and it appears it is a common practice.
INSANE!

👍 That deal reminds me of the deal between home "owners" and state/local taxing authorities.

Great Story, thanks for sharing, I'm sure everyone else will enjoy it too!

Hey OGC - it took a long time to kick in but I remembered things from my young working days.
My boss (working on a farm) had a '72 El Camino with the bench seats.
I was from a family of 10, so everything that I had I worked for, and Andy (the farmer I worked for) understood what it meant.
He (his wife) fed me lunch every day - they knew that it was going to be my best meal of the day. Had to be on the porch at 12:00, and you had to have everything off of your plate by 12:25 and she would clean everything up.....
I worked very hard for him - but he did take good care of me.
Anyway, he knew that my family had two vehicles and there were 5 drivers.
He offered me his El Camino for $.07/CPM.
I had a five mile bike ride to get to his place, and then five miles back to town and then over 30 miles to get to a bowling alley or movie theater.
So I was looking at 3 hours of work just to get a date to an event and back.
I worked many long hours, and the two times I used his El Camino were well worth it!
Having a date and having an arm around her on the bench seat... do not know why I had forgotten.
Nothing more happened, but it was ..... WONDERFUL....
I was "unavailable" when Andy passed - I will forever chastise myself for that. I was not there to let his wife and children know how much he meant to me -
Everybody around me now has an angle - can't trust anyone....
Can I go back to working for Andy? Just let me have 5 - 6 months of that simple life and I will call it quits....

Sorry to unload - been a loooong time since I had these memories. They were locked away.

I used to have a ranger and loved it. Then I traded it for my big girl's truck.

I have an 07 ranger that DeWALT bought me and gave me after we all got laid off during the housing crash in 08/09

My 2005 Ford F150 with 4wheel drive is my kind of truck.

I got a '96 Chevy Pickup for use on the property - always getting requests to borrow it and all I do is ask if they can drive a shift - its had the key in it for 20 years, and has never gone missing.....

OUG, great collection...
And one more Hat Tip to our POTUS #47...
We get Lake America.
And apparently the deal with Greenland cost us nothing, except a bunch of mean tweets!

Imagine the guys on the other side of the table.
OMG... We wanted to hold out for a big pay day... But just stop the Mean Tweets, and the Memes... Make them stop... (The deal reads, you protect it, you get final say what counties are there, and PRETEND to let us still rule the place!)

Another +1. Kolchak brought an instant smile to my face.

Most, if not all, people under 30...

Don't even DRIVE cars! Have no interest in driving.

My BROKE neighbors get door dash meals DAILY!

They have cars...

Clues... No, they don't have ONE of those.

LOL.

Looking up NCR proved to be historically fascinating ~~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCR_Voyix
Mention of the military 1911 .45-cal. pistol (one of many products churned out by the company) triggered memories. The gun was introduced to me by the Marines (way easy foir me to aim and hit targets) and was touted for "stopping knock down power" despite gangsters in movies shot by Thompson subguns like in The Godfather tend to dance ridiculously around while being endlessly splattered by big .45 slugs. I was a Marine supply clerk and as yet never shot anyone but I bought a 1911 shortly after I became a civilian. Kept it in my car's glove compartment (too big for concealed carry) and called it my "car cannon." Because it only shoots 7 rounds me dino traded it in at a gun store around year 2002 for a big 9mm that fires 17 shots. That pistol I call my "car blaster" because it keeps spitting shots like a Star Wars sidearm.

HAD to +1 The Night Stalker, dino! When young I used one of those ancient printing devices and had a neighbor that worked for National Cash Register (aka NCR today) repairing them.

Remember the first RX7 I designed a stereo system for, man, was it quick!!!

My Miatas' been doing that since '89 (and before that the RX7 from '78.)
Enjoy!

It wasn't an engineer.
It was probably an insurance executive in conspiracy with a corrupt politician.

My Ranger has a split bench with a fold down arm rest.

I bet you do, That 5 on the floor make women even more attractive beyond what they may be already.

I've got 6 on the floor in the Mini Cooper I bought in early summer,. . makes driving fun again!

Thanks heaps!

I agree. They do look like Donald ducks.

Do not think you will they are not as frilly as the Lexis, BMW, Mercedes and other female drivers want to be seen inside, bunch around these parts Frankly I get lots of looks with my 23-yr old Honda Accord with five on the floor!