Boomer Populism
The elderly demand fewer taxes and more benefits. It may become the GOP’s electoral strategy–and doom the country.
I once planned to write an article pushing back against boomer hate. It’s common for the young to beat up this generation. There are clear problems with the boomers, but it’s important to note that the generation is still pretty socially conservative and significantly whiter than its younger peers. The Right also depends on the boomers’ support to win elections.
But I would not write that article today. This generation is now clamoring for one of the most idiotic proposals imaginable–property tax elimination–while insisting their government benefits are fully protected and expanded. Boomer populism is now a cry to cut all their taxes while boosting their Social Security and Medicare. This is a terrible political formula. It will wreck the nation’s future at the expense of the young.
Unfortunately, it may prove successful during election season.
It’s imperative for the Right to reject boomer populism. The old already have disproportionate power over this country. The last thing we need to do is to allow them to extract more wealth from the nation at the public’s expense.
It’s natural for demographic groups to advocate for its own interests, even if these interests make for an illogical combination. Most Americans would love to pay fewer taxes and receive more government benefits. That’s not a workable system, however, which is why it rarely emerges as a serious political agenda. Tax cuts require spending cuts. One cannot have your cake and eat it, too.
Conservatives have wanted to do entitlement reforms for years, but it’s proven to be electoral suicide to propose it. Nearly 80 percent of Americans oppose any cuts to social security. On top of that, strong majorities back increasing the benefits from social security and Medicare. Republicans, led by Donald Trump, have made peace with this political reality by vowing to not cut these popular entitlements.
It’s not an ideal situation as we need to do entitlement reforms–at some point. The obvious issues of financial sustainability and skyrocketing government debt aside, reforming these programs would also undermine demands for immigration. A common argument for increasing immigration is that we need these newcomers to pay into social security to keep it afloat. Reforming it would neuter that argument and make it even less necessary to import third worlders.
But, Republicans would suffer at the ballot box if they do entitlement reforms, wrecking the rest of their political agenda. Pragmatism mandates keeping the status quo. Once Americans get used to a benefit, it’s extremely hard to take it away from them. Witness how the public reacted to Republican attempts to scrap Obamacare in Trump’s first term. People get used to these benefits and lash out at any suggestion they may be taken away. That’s why introducing new benefits to the public always comes with danger. Even if it proves to be catastrophic, the people will never willingly give up these rewards.
That’s what makes the proposal to scrap property taxes so onerous. People will now get used to the idea and insist on it being the norm forever—no matter how idiotic it is.
Just a few years ago, this would’ve been seen as a wavy, unrealistic idea. America has always had property taxes, and they’re necessary to fund public services in local communities. If you scrap them, that revenue will have to be raised with other taxes, which will prove just as unpopular as property taxes.
But that was the past. Now prominent Republicans such as Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott now call to ban property taxes, regardless of the consequences.
With such big names wanting to scrap the taxes, it’s now seen as a realistic policy and voters will insist on it. They don’t care about what it entails. They only see the immediate benefit of not having to pay property taxes. The damage to public services and the raising of other taxes is not something they worry about.
For boomers, they think it will only cut services they don’t need and raise rates on taxes they don’t pay, such as income tax. This is a win-win for them. Someone else will pay the price while they get to enjoy another vacation.
Schools will be particularly hard hit by these cuts. That’s the goal for many Republicans advocating for scrapping property taxes. One of the ballot initiatives that passed overwhelmingly in Texas earlier this month would exempt more homeowners from paying property taxes to fund public schools. Abbott is campaigning on eliminating school property taxes altogether. The plan is to make up for this lost revenue through increasing the sales tax. This will likely hurt the state’s economy as ordinary people spend less on consumer goods due to increased prices, which also means less revenue from the sales tax. Schools will probably lose a significant amount of funding with a property tax ban.
Conservatives know there are serious problems with public schools. That’s why there have been so many battles to control school boards and families turning to home schooling. However, we need public schools. Not everyone is going to have the time and resources to homeschool their kids or send them to private schools. Curbing public education adds yet another burden to young families and disincentivizes family formation. American education is already a disaster. Defunding it will worsen the problem and ensure the next generation can barely read.
Advocates of eliminating property taxes claim it will help the housing crisis. In fact, it will likely make it worse. In order to offset the costs of not having property taxes, houses will increase in purchase price due to community fees and other assorted means. It also means that fewer boomers will want to sell their homes. The housing market already suffers from the old refusing to sell. Without property taxes, they will be further incentivized to stay right where they are.
A world without property taxes could mean young families have no good schools to send their kids to and hardly any homes to buy.
It’s terrible to punish the young to further reward the elderly. As a society, we would declare we do not care about creating and educating another generation. Our priority is to enrich old people who refuse to make any sacrifices for the common good. Their right to have Medicare, Social Security, and not pay property taxes is far more important than America having good schools and roads. This is the essence of boomer populism.
Sadly, it may be enough to win elections. If Abbott wins big in his re-election bid on this platform, it may show Republicans a way to win in 2028. Nearly 80 percent of Texans voted to restrict property taxes in two ballot initiatives earlier this month. It doesn’t just win over boomers, it can also win over Gen Xers. Voters 45 and older comprised 63 percent of the electorate in 2028. If Republicans feel the youth may swing back to the Left, they may decide boomer populism may make up for the change.
It might bring the short-term benefit of electoral victories, but it will come at the price of exacerbating the housing crisis, upending public services, increasing worse taxes, and diminishing the overall quality of life for Boomers and non-Boomers alike.
America is already a gerontocracy. We witnessed this first-hand during COVID when the old forced the country to adopt insane lockdown restrictions to protect themselves. This hit the young the hardest, with many of our children losing valuable years thanks to this madness.
To be clear, it’s unwise to engage in generational warfare in American politics, especially for the Right. Boomers are still a reliably conservative demographic. We shouldn’t hate our parents and grandparents, even if they adopt silly policy positions.
But it’s necessary to resist boomer populism as an electoral strategy. If we want a better future, we need to stop prioritizing the old over the young. This creates the very grounds for generational warfare in the first place.
To avoid this grim future, the GOP should stop championing property tax elimination. It’s a selfish desire to be free of any responsibility towards your community. The people who demand it don’t want to give up paved roads, police, or their Social Security.
This isn’t rugged individualism. It’s entitled individualism, and it shouldn’t serve as the new ideology of the post-Trump GOP.
All these angry boomers in the comments are just further proving the point of the article.
I am a boomer and I tend to agree somewhat, although technically it would not be extracting wealth from the state but rather limiting the ability of the state to extract wealth from property owners. But there need to be common sense safeguards in place. My property taxes in my little burg went up 400% since 2018. Lots of my fellow citizens were priced out of the homes they had lived in their entire adult lives. We all lived simply and within our means but they were eviscerated by governments that do not. In my state property taxes are a main, if not the, source of funds. But we are outgunned politically by non-property owning voters with ever increasing demands who elect politicians who gleefully comply. Then raise property taxes. It is a stunning and vicious cycle. As harsh as this might sound, I begin to understand earlier restrictions on the vote - property ownership, poll taxes, literacy tests. I understand andxagree that every citizen should have a say in their governance. But having a say should not mean taking advantage of those who value, and have achieved, self-sufficiency through fiscal responsibility. The benefit-me-through- use-of-other-people's- money thing is out of hand at this point. Coupled that with the idea that the government(s) should, much less can, fix what ails us and we are in very dangerous territory.