dunroving

I have no idea how the city council managed to do it, because the garbage service was amazing, including recycling of paper, plastic, glass, the lot, plus garden waste pick-up every week, plus an "anything" (almost literally) pick up once a week. So if you left a sofa or washing machine on the front lawn, they would pick it up. I furnished half of my house from stuff that was left on front lawns - true recycling!

And the city (town; circa 60,000 people) was immaculately kept - landscaping manicured, streets clean, etc.

Here, we get no garden waste pickup from about August to April, and due to industrial action we're lucky if rubbish is picked up once a month. So, crapper and more expensive.

Bud the Wiser

Saw petrol @ $3.06 US gallon today.

As much as I'd like to win the US lottery, the jackpot is nowhere nearer what you'd receive if you took the cash. I believe the UK & Euro lotteries the jackpot advertised is more or less what you receive. Is that right?

BTW. I'm not moaning about the prize per se, it's the way the jackpot is hyped up in a typical American fashion.

Bob

Aye, pretty much...plus you pay a hefty chunk of tax on the winnings over here, which you don't in the UK as you've already paid tax on the ticket, unless that's changed.

Derrygal

Nothing is as it seems here in the US - there are fees and taxes on everything. What you see - is not what you get!!

Cape Blue

California is based upon the purchase price - if you bought cheaply or a long time ago then the property tax remains low, conversely buying in an expensive city and it is quite high.

At one point I considered buying the apartment I rented - one of the reasons I decided not to was the $10,000 a year property tax - especially annoying as my neighbor whose house was twice the size of my apartment was only paying around $800 per year - she had lived there for donkey's years.

holly_1948

That is so that businesses pay little property tax except on new construction.
As a big corporation don't buy a big building, you buy the corporation that owns the building so that theoretically the property never changes hands. I expect to see the same with million dollar residences in time.

Not so different from the UK, the corporations decide who can run or stand for election to the next government. The Labour Party is progressively taking that power away from being a purely local decision, the Conservatives never had it.

Pulaski

Yes there is, it's called Florida!

bristolhs

i agree with you unitkingdom has less expense than united states. people lives in local area only know about the exact expense. but also some towns in uk are little bit expensive