Do You Know Where You Live?

An anonymous submitter writes "Thanks to GPS, it seems quite a few people are discovering they don't live where they thought. Prior to GPS, state, county and city borders were part law, part measurement, and part guesswork. Now, they're able to go back and discover where actual borders should be, and it's making many people unhappy. Some familes in Rhode Island are finding out they may actually live in Connecticut. Each state, county and city wants as much land as possible, because it means more tax income. The people caught in the middle simply want to know where they'll send their kids for school."

Comments

Related problem

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

I used to work in the Oil-n-Gas business (petroleum, not Taco Bell) and that industry is grappling with the same question about well spotting -- the exact surface location of a well. Historically, they are identified via footage calls from a known location (e.g. 354' N, 287' E of SW corner of such-n-such)
While the state agencies would love to have nice, precise lat-lon coords, the property owners often refuse access to the survey crews because an accurate survey may show that the property line is incorrect, and Farmer Smith never really owned the well, it's on Farmer Johnson's land.
The real financial impact can be huge.

Re:use common sense...

[stoolpigeon]

such as taxes, etc, that's fine...they don't directly effect your day-to-day life

You must not have a job yet.

There is also a lot more than taxes or schools involved that directly impact peoples daily lives. State laws can vary greatly. I'm in the middle of my state. But what if I lived near some other state and suddenly things I own are illegal (I've got a rifle that would fit this easily in some places)

This is a pretty big deal and I think what will have to utlimately happen is people will need to move if they really don't want to live where they really live.

Re:use common sense...

[Zapman]

The problem with this is that both RI and Conn. are planning on sending taxes to these residences, and BOTH expect to collect. If they don't they will take these people to court in either RI or Conn, where they will be guilty.

What do you do in that case? It certainly will impact you, especially if one state is a tourism state (collects lots of revenue from sales tax) and the other is a property tax state.

--Jason

Re:use common sense...

[Dynedain]

But where does that funding come from to pay for the kid's schooling? Property taxes. No state is going to want to take a decrease in their property taxes without the associated decrease in students. So a change in tax structure will affect everyday lives. The money to pay for that kid's education doesn't just appear out of loopholes, and it would cost more to transfer the money between states than it does to send that kid to school.

And what happens when the parents have another kid? Does he/she go to the same school or to one in their "new" state? How long does it get grandfathered? One generation? One continuous family line? Does it stick with the property? If so, then give the property to the state where the people are using the tax money.

And there's more than just taxes to fund schools...you also have roads, sewer, zoning issues, etc. etc. etc....

Part of why the US isn't a true democracy is because the majority typically overules the minority. So, by correcting state lines, some 50 people out of a combined population of a couple million are affected....an extremely small minority that probably won't notice much of a difference anyways.