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Rain Water, Tiny Homes, Tents, off Grid Living

I can understand sensible laws.  I even try to adhere to them.  Like diverting rain water.  I can understand if you have acres and acres that feed a stream, you might want a law about diverting too much of that water.  Maybe a permit to block the stream to build a pond.  After all, there are folk that live down stream from you.  But making it illegal to catch the rain water from your roof?  Most of the homes in my area still have cisterns.  Mine is a grow room now.

So can someone explain the motivation behind some of the goofy laws that have been put in place to fight the current anti mortgage movement.

Camping - So some places now have laws against camping on your own property.  Usually it is a rule like no camping for more than a certain number of days.  Tents / Yurts are right out, so are RVs and trailers.  On your own property?

Tiny Homes - Now various municipalities are coming up with rules about how many square feet a home must have.  If it is too small, it is considered camping and you gotta play by the camping rules.  I think essentially they say it is like a hunting cabin.

Off Grid - Believe it or not, some folk are being forced to connect to the electrical grid.  They dont have to use it, but they have to pay a monthly fee for it being there if they need it.

Water - This one hits us.  We must be connected to county water.  Now we need it right now, but collect enough rain water in our ponds.  If I ever get a water filter going on, we wont need county water.  Ah, but we still have to pay their minimum monthly fee.

Not trying to sound like a survivalist / prepper type.  Been watching this show on Pioneers.  Seems like that is how the United States was born.  People going off and trying to improve their lives by getting away from it all.  Just seems odd that so many municipalities have such a dim view on doing the same thing in a modern world.
 
We bought a water meter to support the development when they installed the county water system about 10 years ago. It's still there and has never been connected to anything. No bill to pay but if I ever use it, I'll have to pay.
 
When someone built within a quarter mile of us a few years ago we were considering splitting the purchase of a fire hydrant for an insurance discount but it wouldn't be a break even for 8 years.
 
AJ Drew said:
So can someone explain the motivation behind some of the goofy laws that have been put in place?
In one word? "MONEY." It's the U.S. Government spending way more than they're taking in (on a lot of bullshit), and scrambling for a way to make up the revenue. Government God damn greed.

Edit: it happens all over the world. My wife and I went to Ireland on our honeymoon. If you ever get a chance, look at some pics of Dublin's architecture. They didn't gain their independence from Britain until the 1920's (?) ("The Easter Rising"). Take a look at some of the taller buildings there. The higher you go up, the smaller the windows in the buildings get. That's because the English used to impose a "sunlight tax" on the Irish. The more sunlight you got, the more taxes you paid. Can you believe that shit? Paying taxes on the Sun?! It's true, and coming soon to a neighborhood near you.....

(Now I sound like a "prepper" :rofl: )
 
You don't even want to get me going..All I will say is take stock in precious metals brass and lead...Something is gonna break soon..I'm not a big prepper though I'd be all right for quite a while if TSHTF..But just seeing how people get after a big storm and loosing power for a week..How do you think it will be when the money runs out...WE the people need to take back control of this nation..And because of my statements I just want to clarify I'm not saying over throw the government..I'm saying when the nation runs out of flow we are doomed..And the only place to fix it is electing the right people,though at times I feel we are electing people that are all on the same team..
 
Told ya not to get me going..Government over reach and spending is my big hot topic button..0 to 100 in a split..
 
I guess now wouldn't the time to mention.......
 
 
.......if you have to pay the government a tax in order to keep (your land) what you've already paid for, then they can take it from you and auction it off....and, thereby, keeping the money they make for selling the land....and forcing the new owner to pay (or the cycle begins all over again).
 
Does anyone truly own their property.....or are we just renting it from the government?
 
AJ Drew said:
Sunlight tax?  I had to google that one.  Yep, they taxed the number of windows and in some cases, the size of the windows.  Wow, just wow.
Yup. You can't make this shit up! ;)
 
paulky_2000 said:
I guess now wouldn't the time to mention.......
 
 
.......if you have to pay the government a tax in order to keep (your land) what you've already paid for, then they can take it from you and auction it off....and, thereby, keeping the money they make for selling the land....and forcing the new owner to pay (or the cycle begins all over again).
 
Does anyone truly own their property.....or are we just renting it from the government?
 
Look up "easement" laws and "right-of-way" homeowners laws. Ever wonder why those Comcast guys feel completely comfortable walking all over your garden without knocking? That pisses me off. 
 
And no, as long as property tax exists you never own land imo. In NJ with our property tax, you are completely repaying the value of the property every ~42 years. If I buy a house at 27, when Im 69 I'd have bought the house again. Not to mention mortgages...  :confused:
 
Nearly 13% tax burden, 3% higher than national average but the roads are awful and infrastructure is falling apart. Maybe Chris Christie is diverting state funds to his Twinkie addiction habit. 
 
At this point, it's no different than China's land ownership, except they only pay once, every 70 years, with no taxes. And they don't pretend they own the land. 
 
The only difference is that in China, the government can decide whether or not to renew your lease every 70 years (Which sounds awful), where as America as long as you pay the taxes and it isn't needed for crucial development, it's yours indefinitely (at least). 
 
Imo, the land you buy should be yours indefinitely. 
 
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