Taxes pay for firefighting services. When you don't pay taxes in the same district that the nearest firefighting services are in, then to have access to firefighting services, you may be asked to pay a fee to that district. If you pay, you're covered. If you don't, you're screwed in a case like this.
What wont fly in VA? The cities actions, or the actions of the firefighters? You thought it was free? How do you think they pay the firefighters and their equipment?
Interesting. I didn't read your posts until afterward and didn't end up editing, really sad that they wouldn't save his pets. Thanks for the insight!
Yep. Just like insurance. Most of the time you never need it but it really comes in handy when something happens and you do.
People are humanitarian, professions aren't. There are just as many selfish, greedy, and uncaring people in those professions as in any other. Most of them are working for a paycheck just like everyone else. It was a shitty situation all the way around but those homeowners knew the risks of not paying and they still elected not to. $75 per year is hardly a tedious fee. I wonder if those folks had internet, cable TV, cell phones, cold beer in the fridge, and a Netfix subscription? I didn't see anything in the article that said they were too poor to pay the fee, which is what your title led me to believe. I also live in a rural area and have to pay extra for fire, 911, and trash collection. If I don't pay and those services are subsequently denied to me, who's to blame? It was a terrible thing that happened but those people bear the majority of the responsibility, not the firefighters.
Its responses like these that make me realize how many people are kinda dumb on here =( Do you really think....that the firefighters should have gone against orders putting their life at risk for a fucking animal?? people get way too attached to animals these days holy shit. There is no reason whatsoever to risk your life for a animal LOL again, if your house flooded without flood insurance would you demand money because its "the right thing to do because they couldn't help it" no absolutely not. There were no human lives at risk in this situation except for the ones you mock.... sure we all need the government to protect us but that shit is not free, why should anyone get special treatment just because they can't afford it. The hospital is not required to do shit btw they have ways of getting around that kind of stuff. All they are actually legally required to do if u have no money is bring you to a stable condition and then peace you the fuck out
This family had never had a fire in the past, and had paid their fee on time in all previous years. They had contributed. It's appalling that this fire department even stops during an emergency to check if a fee has been paid. What they -SHOULD- have done, was charge 1.5 x the $75 fee after they responded and put it out, upon noticing (AFTER the emergency) that the family's home wasn't current in their books. Keep in mind that in other countries, firefighting is paid for by the government with your taxes. This is true in countries whose workers contribute as little as 10% TOTAL in taxes each year, where the government uses it almost as a loan and then returns nearly all of it. These same governments offer high paying doles to the unemployed with virtually no questions asked, and cheap-free health care, all for less than 10% of the "worker bee's" salary. The US government is full of cruel, greedy cheapskates, period. And that's why fire departments in the US are reduced to charging fee's for their services, and can't even afford to risk losing out on those fee's by providing a 'service' that may save lives, in hopes they get paid after. It's just one of a thousand telltale signs showing how far the country has fallen.
I wouldn't mind seeing something to support those statements because I don't believe they're true. In general, socialist countries pay the highest taxes on the planet. Where do you think the money comes from to support those governments and their social programs? Why do you think Greece and Spain are on the verge of bankruptcy? BTW, most people do not pay extra for government services, they are paid for by tax dollars. In certain circumstances, for instance very rural or inaccessible areas, extra fees are charged because of the much higher cost involved in providing those services.
In Australia, minimum wage is around $14.00 USD an hour, and it's climbing much faster than the minimum wage in the US. A nice rental home starts at about 300-400 dollars a month, and when you get up to a whopping $700, it's for a 3-4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 toilet room, home with a few living rooms, maybe a theater room, and kitchen. The yard care is usually included in the cost. The landlords are sweet as sugar, and often give bottles of wine and gifts out on the holidays, because there are rules called "squatters rights" which means you can legally reside in the home for up to 12 months after you made your -last- rent payment, should you come to a disagreement. Food is cheaper, housing is cheaper, utilities are for the most part cheaper, the only items that cost a little more are gas, Internet, tobacco, and liquor, BUT they get paid so much more hourly than people in the US, that it more than makes up for the slight increase in cost for those 'luxury' items. Necessities however, are dirt cheap compared to the US. Most teenagers make about 210.00 a week if they are paid minimum wage, so usualy they make a bit more than that. It's tax free if they're under age like it is in the US, for working the maximum 15 hours a week. A 'Full Time' job is 35 hours a week in some if not all states in Australia, and for over time, on holidays, and on weekends, you get paid double time, to double time and a half. Unlike the US, in Australia the more you make, the more you are taxed... so people who make less than 200,000.00 a year pay only roughly 9%-14% TOTAL, that's US equiv to State and Federal taxes. And most of it is reimbursed. The ultra wealthy in Australia (as well as these other countries you mention) however, pay a higher percentage, which is where the confusion comes in that they pay more taxes; because the cost of life is so low that they realistically don't need such a surplus of money, and should be 'thankful' to the country who treated them so well, and they are required to repay the country with a slightly higher tax scale. If you for some reason can't or choose not to work, you go down to their version of the DHHS, and you often walk away with -cash in hand-... no long paperwork process before you get help, no proving yourself worthy until you starve to death. They give you assistance -while- looking into your needs. I know some Australians who've never worked due to anxiety, and they receive 1,100.00 month from the gov, and have done so since they first applied with no delays. And their unemployment rate is STILL lower than ours, less than half, even though it's so much easier to get government 'help'.. why? Because working there is still more fruitful, and it's just as easy as accepting a handout from the government, inspite of the fact you can walk away from their organizations with cash in hand. Now, in comparison to the US, this is a much smaller, 'poorer' country. And unlike Greece and Spain, the US is more than just on the verge of going bankrupt, and it's for -all the wrong reasons-; they're not strapped for cash because they're spent too much on the underprivileged, or the homeless, or on other social programs for the middle class. It's from a combination of intense greed, and from sticking their noses where they don't belong.
For the most part, I agree with both of your posts, although I think countries like Australia and Dubai are exceptions to the rule.
I don't even know where to begin with all the wrong things in this post. but i do know that Australian PUBLIC healthcare is some of the worst in the world....
Have you ever lived there, for a good duration of time? Got family over there? Because I have. I've got family in both, and I've spent a great deal of time in both countries, as well as a few others. Someone who's never left the US, or has only had US propaganda exposure to other nations, has little room to judge or compare, especially with nothing to back them up. The fact that the people of the US can only be thankful that they're not living in some of the worst, war-stricken nations of the world, really says something, because as far as its actual sister nations of comparable wealth go, almost any other is superior in the quality of life that middle to lower class people are allowed to live.