Snow, new taxes!

Here are a couple of pictures taken after I spent over an hour removing snow in front of our house that was dumped on the sidewalk by snowplows.

This is after I used an ice scraper to break the packed snow up, blew the snow up over a high pile in my yard, and finished the job with a snow shovel. You can see what the neighbor has yet to do.

The clear spot farther down the street was done by a neighbor with a bigger snowblower than I have. I don't know how long it took him, but he didn't do as many lots as he does when the snow is fresh.



Here you can see how high I had to throw the snow. Granted that the yard is sloped, but the snow is at least four feet deep as you can see from the neighbors railing. Note also that the snow is not pristine white, but brown from the street slush. No way can I throw snow over this for more than a few minutes at a time. One could consider having to have a snow blower an additional tax. Let's see, I think this little guy cost $700 or so. If it lasts 14 years, then that is an additional $50 a year tax.

Let's see, if we assume $7/hour for general labor and $280/year real estate tax to the city, then I am paying an extra 2.5% tax each time the city plows move snow from the street to the side walk. If this only happens four times per season, I should be so lucky, then I am paying an extra 10% tax each winter. Add the snowblower cost, then I am paying about 28% more taxes just for snow blowing.

Thanks a lot, "No new taxes" proponents. May you have a higher snow tax than I do.