Again this gets back to my point of cruisers differntiating themselves from stationary liveaboards. I may paint stationary liveaboards with a broad brush and while there are exceptions, the truth is they tend to be scruffier. I'm sorry, but I've seen enough cruisers and liveaboards that you won't convince my otherwise. More importantly, those trying to shoo us away usually just want the scruffy ones gone and if they don't understand the difference will push us cruisers away at the same time. As far as taxes go: Last I checked in Michigan, the bulk of property taxes went to the school systems. Most cruisers don't send thier kids, if they have any, to the local school. Assuming they have kids, permanently stationed liveaboards probably do utilize the school system. I would argue that cruisers typically have much lower (but some still) usage rates for police, fire, community centers, etc, as cruisers tend to be a more self sufficent group. Residential property is taxed at a drastically lower tax rate than commercial property in Michigan. Also an acre of commercial marina property is likely to be valued much higher than an acre of equivilent residential property. So the end property tax paid by boaters is not so simple to calculate. The fact that it is paid as part of the slip fees is irrelevant. The boater still paid the tax. The other flaw in your math is the "fuzzy math" of induced jobs and taxes. You can debate how much impact there is, but if cruisers support shopping centers, restaurants, attractions, those buisnesses create jobs and pay taxes. As the buisnesses prosper, they drive up property values and the taxes they generate. The people who work those jobs hopefully buy houses and pay property taxes. All of these costs wind up back into the cost of goods and services. So simply stating that you don't pay as much direct tax as household residents is not accurate. So let's look at your $180,000 example. With our typically lower use of services, if the tax system is fair, we should pay less taxes. A seat of my pants estimate is cruisers utilize maybe 25% of the services typical residents use. That translates to around $45,000 which corresponds pretty well with our annual budget (some cruisers will be lower, but many will be higher). Take into account many cruisers anchor out in rural areas for a percentage of time and then use time in urban areas to provision and have repairs done, the per day taxes paid may be substantially higher. As I have stated before, no community is obligated to provide cruisers with free dockage, but it would be wise on thier part to assess the real costs of eliminating it as cruisers have the unusual ability to simply move on to an area where they are made to feel welcome. Mike & Tammy Valhalla II Snip: Taxation avoidance is a hot issue and is not confined to the boating community. Similar issues have been raised about RVers and other temporary mobile residents. As a former elected official of a waterside community and a long time member of a local school board, I can assure members of this list that the taxes paid by boaters as part of their marina dockage fees are but a tiny fraction of the costs absorbed by the community by their presence. In most areas in the USA costs associated with local schools, local roads, garbage collection, police and fire protection, ambulance services, the public library, etc. are largely paid for by local property taxes and a fraction of sales taxes and local use taxes (if any). Property taxes are assessed primarily on real property, land, houses, and other structures that cannot be moved. In most venues, a boat is not considered real property. True, the marina owner pays property and school taxes, but only on the value of the property that he owns, not on the value of the boats in his slips. A house valued at $300,000 in my community would be charged about $10,000 a year in local property and school taxes. If you live on a boat, either anchored in our lovely harbor or in a slip at a marina, you pay none of these taxes directly. If you buy your food and services in our town, shop at the stores and eat out frequently, you would have to be charged sales taxes on $180,000 of spending per year to make up the difference. Federal taxes, most state taxes, and license fees do nothing to relieve the burden on local taxpayers. No wonder shore side communities look askance at liveaboard boaters. We like to be hospitable to visitors but we expect "residents" to pay their fair share. Think of that the next time you expect the fire department to put out a fire on a nearby dock or the police to chase away would be burglars.