Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Taxes and Flowers

I had to go to our city-county complex building yesterday to pay the property taxes on my car.

When I got there I saw that the landscaping crews have planted loads of summer flowers all around the multiple entrances. There were roses, zinnias, daisies, and several flowers I didn't recognize, but my favorites were these gorgeous red hibiscus.....




I'm sure some of the passers-by thought I was crazy, standing there snapping pictures with my phone, but I didn't care. The flowers were too pretty for me to resist! How pleasant for people headed to the tax offices (or to court!) to have something beautiful to see on the way in.

26 comments:

  1. I'm not sure that's a hibiscus although it is definitely in the family. It's gorgeous! As to those blue/purple ones? They are Mexican Petunias and are invasive as hell. They should not be allowed to be sold. They do have a pretty color but once they're planted, you can never get rid of them.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know what the purple flowers are! Since they're planted in big raised beds I doubt they'll be able to cause too much trouble!

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  2. I saw your photo on Instagram and thought it was wonderful.

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    1. I love the shape of the flowers and the buds against the sky.

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  3. Paying property taxes on a car? I have no idea what that might mean but it doesn't sound very nice.

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    1. Every year you have to pay property taxes for any cars or houses you own. The money pays for school funding, road maintenance, the county library, etc. This year my tax on the Scion was a little over $200. Locally we also pay a 10% sales tax on all purchases, including food and other necessities.

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  4. Beautiful photos with the sky background. The last one is very special.

    cheers, parsnip

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  5. Beautiful. I'm sure you're not the only one who's snapped photos of those gardens.

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  6. Lovely flowers. Lovely photos. Lovely Jennifer.

    Love,
    Janie

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  7. Your tax money went into that garden. That, for a change, was a good way to spend it.

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  8. I'm sure you'd like to know that we pay NO TAX on cars here, just insurance and a biannual road worthiness test.

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    1. It must be that way in England, too. Neil had never heard of paying property taxes on cars.

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  9. Beautiful flowers, and I agree, it is a good idea to have something like that to look at when you have a less than pleasant task ahead.
    Property taxes on cars sounds strange. We have taxes on cars here, too, but only the tax we pay on houses and land is called property tax, since cars are not considered "permanent" (or durable) property.
    Sales tax in this country is 19 %.

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    1. Oh, and the percentage of tax on cars differs according to how environmentally friendly the car is.

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    2. The property tax on vehicles here varies based on the worth of the car. My husband's twenty year old work truck (with 200,000 miles) only had a tax bill of around $80. We have to pay car taxes each year to get an updated registration sticker for the license plate.

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  10. Beautiful! A little planting does wonders for everyone's mood!

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  11. That second photo is particulary good

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  12. Your tax money went into that garden. That, for a change, was a good way to spend it.

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