S, taxes here specifically property taxes.. "house and land you own" is what funds our schools. each school district has a "price per student" it takes to educate them for the year in a very simple term, I guess. so each property owner pays a percentage or as it is on our tax vocabulary a millage. each school district has tax payers vote on their needs above and beyond normal cost... such as a new building which might be 30 million dollars per building funded for 30 years as an example... if a tax levy is passed for building a new building that cost is formulated by the tax office and they bill us once a year for taxes. the county collects the dollars then distributes the dollar computation to each district according to the number of students they are educating. NOW it changes a little by what if a district doesn't have enough tax dollars to fund its school district because they may be very poor communities or very sparsly populated?... then any excess dollars collected go to districts that are underfunded. it is very complicated but this is as simple as I can think of to explain it. if you can look at this link maybe it will explain it clearer or not. http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Finance-and-Funding/Overview-of-School-Funding
I find each method interesting. Sjoerd, it appears that your homeland is quite clean. I am annoyed when I see trash littering the streets and roadways. Especially in local parks. All vegetable matter goes into the earth. Any meat by-products are tossed into a wooded area for the wildlife. Leaves and grass are chopped fine and used as compost. We too have a Bin for collected waste. Previously, before COVID, we took our plastics, metals and glass to a collection center. I have no idea now and assume it goes into the landfill. I'm of the opinion there should be a law that only biodegradable containers should be made and sold. Sjoerd, at one time, I wondered at the phrase, "Bob’s yer uncle." I believe it may have been you who explained it to me. In the USA, "So there you have it!", or "And that's how it is." might be the same.
My next car is going to be an electric one for environmental reasons. The technology is getting better & better. I looked into solar energy for our electricity but we are too much on the woods.
I have been thinking the same thing...and for the same reasons; however, I am asking myself where the electricity would come from—nuclear plants, coal or wind or water. It is not sure over here. An alternative may be a hybrid. To make things more difficult there are rules in this apt. building since the parking is under the dwellings. Too bad about the woods there.
I have a friend who has been an environmental lawyer his whole career. He recommends e-cars or a hybrid model. Says they are better for the environment despite the need for electricity. I trust him. Smart guy.
Thanks for that info, Cayu. It will be a problem in our apt building until more folks want one too. Everything here has to be voted on before permission for such an auto may park down there, I mean, I can understand it, but it makes purchasing one just out of reach at the moment. I am not in a hurry at the moment, but the day is coming. Our auto is stillin excellent shape and has crazy-low mileage. I would like to chat with you on this subject one day to pick your brain on important aspects that you see. The prices are still ridiculously high over here.
About electric cars. Here in France, nearly all our electricity comes from nuclear. In our village we have hydro. Electric cars may not give off emissions when running, but that does not mean they are green. The main dirty thing is the battery tech. Lithium mining and the toxic chemicals to make the batteries. I have no idea if these are worse for the environment than internal combustion motors, but they are most certainly not green. I lived off grid many years and the solar panels that I used were also dirty tech. Wind farms have negative impact on wildlife. The best vehicles would run on clean burning hydrogen, but there are some difficulties with storing or creating enough hydrogen on the fly.
Those are precisely some of my concerns at the moment...but I have hope for the future and what smart engineers can come up with.
The horse and wagon is best. You can raise corn for the horse on your lottie, tie the horse up by your back door and claim him as a pet. Use the faeces as manure/compost. Aside from my idea, Wind turbines are a hazard to fowl and the blades are a problem to dispose of. I would prefer solar, but when the sun doesn't shine, not enough electric. When I was a child, we burned wood for heat and cooking and boiling water to do laundry. Life is fraught with difficulties. Bicycles with baskets? Human power. My car is 20 years old and rarely a problem. Of course I'm retired and less mileage.
they make it as simple or as complex as they like in all reality. we have them from one end of the spectrum to the other. Appearing (but I think they aren't as much as they portray) poor with run down weedy properties to looking very well to do and touristy type properties. but the horse and buggy isn't cheap. the buggy can cost upwards of 10,000.00 and a good buggy horse that much more until you can get one broke to harness. or even more than that. here is a video of an amish auction close to my house. the first horse went for 1900.00 as close as I could tell. the next was a pair broke to harness went for 4200.00 this was about 4 years ago.
Carolyn, WOW. Maybe it's worth the money for all the hard work horses do? I know Race horses cost a fortune. The Amish in Ohio have nice farms, but they don't appear lavish. I appreciate that they have Barn raisings when another family need a new barn. The entire area come together and the women put on a great meal.
yeah... just saying the simple way isn't always as simple as it seems. its not necessarily as economical as it seems. it takes a lot of space to raise enough food to provide for even one horse let alone enough for multiple animals and people. most of us could not replicate the family style life style. it takes all of them to work hard long hours to do what they do. sadly though many of them are moving to non farming lifestyles due to the cost of land and doing what it takes to provide for their families. many of them in our area(specifically right near and where the auction video was taken) use electric bikes. young and old alike along with little carts behind the bikes for their toddlers... which to me is very scary as they are on a road that is shared with horses, buggies, tractors, cars, trucks and semis.... its a 50mph rd.
