Only 11 Days Left Before We Leave For Arizona

Only death and taxes are certain things. Rumblings have started. My sister has received the latest assessment for her property out here at The Lake. AHHHHH!!!!!!! Our assessment is probably somewhere stuck in the mail, somewhere between Arizona and Wisconsin. What do these people in Wisconsin think? We're millionaires....oops...you'd have to be a billionaire, a multi-billionaire at that. We knew that it was coming. Because lake frontage is in such demand...they're not making any more of it, don't ya know...we're told that we could sell our property here at The Lake for a King's Ransom. And because we could, hypothetically speaking, sell our property for a King's Ransom, they feel they can tax us accordingly. Unfortunately, we don't want to sell our property out here at The Lake for a King's Ransom. We'd just as soon keep it, thank you very much. In a world where properties are selling for $200,000 per acre...undeveloped...it's kind of hard to protect undeveloped property and forest wildlife lands. What does Wisconsin think it's going to do when there isn't any place left for the bald eagle to perch and nest? What if the pileated woodpecker becomes extinct just as the ivory-billed pileated woodpecker has become? Yes, we could sub-divide our property out here at The Lake and sell. We could reduce some of our tax burden by putting our property into forest management, though that may be just a temporary postponement of the inevitable. Heck...we could sell the whole of it and close our eyes to the end result. I don't think I could remain here and see the resultant devastation. It brings me to tears to even think of it. I don't mind paying taxes. I expect it. Last year our taxes here at The Lake went up 65%-85%. I expect we'll see an even greater increase next year. HTP and I...going by the evaluation placed on my sister's property...can expect to see a 100% increase next year. I wanted to save this property for my children. I'm not sure I can do that now. I'm not sure if they could afford to pay the taxes on even a portion of the property. It's depressing. It's really depressing. With little over a week remaining here at The Lake, I plan to enjoy. I hate to leave. At least I plan to enjoy while the powers that be permit.

Murphyism of the Day

Robbins' Mini-Max Rule of Government

Any minimum criteria set will be the maximum value used.