Dan725

The work culture is tonk here, no doubt about it.

Work, work, work so you can spend, spend, spend, is sadly the mentality drilled into many, therefore, the many would rather see extra dollars in their pockets than have an extra couple of weeks off.

Perhaps this is the biggest cultural difference between here and the UK/Europe at large.

But, as has been said, when you are not working, you can have a lot of fun, and despite it being a different culture, its fairly easy to get along.

cybersecretary

why do you have to do donations to the fire dept and so forth?

jumping doris

Constant telephone begging from those and other charities. When you are new here you really aren't sure what might happen if you don't give, particularly to the police.

cybersecretary

ARE YOU SERIOUS?????

Manc

the Fraternal Order of Police are not "The Police" you are not donating to buying them new pistols or squad cars or anything like that.
it's no biggy, just slam the phone down.

jumping doris

Sorry, not with you.
Do you mean am I serious about getting these calls...yes they actually occur.
Or do you mean ....am I serious that I worried about the consequences of not giving?
Yes I was. We were very new here and I didn't know they were not the police.
Not long after we moved here I was in the park with my dog and the police and the park superintendant arrived. They rounded up all the dog walkers and asked them to prove we had pooh bags. They then picked out the ones (me included) who did not live in the township where the park is located. How did they pick us out....they had checked our license plates.
None of us had done anything wrong. It just made me think the police here may have too much time on their hands and a tad too much power.

Jerseygirl

Very serious...local library, fire dept, hospital....you name it they've got their hand out begging for money.

snowbunny

that is because a lot of our tax money goes to the military. all of the above are seriously underfunded.

Jerseygirl

[QUOTE=Big D] Cost of living in the NE is very expensive. If you are being transferred by your company...make sure you cover all your bases. BTW if you work in NYC you pay city tax as well as state and federal...just something to look forward to.

britvic

Well there not feeding them good enough I know that, my Hubs will be home in a few weeks and six months of Ship food, or I should say shit food has made him loose 45lbs

Jerseygirl

Thought they were paid from state/local taxes...the military is federal isn't it?

snowbunny

The military is federally funded, but the feds also give money to the states for education, highways, and many other purposes, not to mention the fact that they pay for Social Security and Medicare.

For example many non-profits are funded by "community development block grants" from the Feds, and the Feds fund Head Start (early childhood education).

jumping doris

[QUOTE=Jerseygirl] We pay a local township tax that is 1.25% of earnings..didn't know about that one before we moved here. It's not a lot but it all adds up.

Angry White Pyjamas

Income tax is low. All the other hidden taxes are not.

Jerseygirl

We always laugh at the lease price for cars as adverised on TV. $199 per month for 36 mths....tiny writing $15K down and 7K miles per yr. for the basic model...not the model shown...brakes and tyres are extra.