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We are not "over taxed" and the recent increase is not outrageous.

Let me explain.

Using myself as a an example, let's look at what my takes get me vis a vie the school system.

According to RIDE, the per pupil expendature in Warwick is $17,242 yearly.

I have two children in the system, each will go from Kindergarden through high school, 13 years each, 26 total.

So ignoring inflation, $17,242 times 26 is $448,292.

Recently, my taxes were increased to roughly $4,800/year, but only 51% goes to the school system, so I'm contributing $2,448/year to the school system.

This means that (at current rates) in order to repay the city for my children's education, I will have to continue to pay taxes for a total of just over 183 years.

I will never pay my fair share for my children's education and neither will you. And don't give me the "I don't have kids" or "my kids went to school in another town" argument because the fact is that your parents won't live long enough to pay for the education you got.

The difference between what you pay and what costs actually are is made up in corporate tax rates.

This leads into the whole "Rhode Island is the worst state for business" story which is true from a certain perspective. We can certainly lower corporate tax rates and increase business in the state. The trade off for that would be much higher residential property taxes. Who is going to sign up for that?

To sum: Our taxes are not outrageous, they are not high, the fact of the matter is that almost no individual or family pay their fair share in taxes. The tax burden is born by companies.

Do some research before you complain.