Need more right-wingers to get involved in local politics to make sure the money is being spent wisely. I'm going to make an effort to try and start going to city council meetings.
I agree with the article in general, even though I am a "Boomer". The ugly fact is that Democrats (and some Republicans) pile on the property taxes to finance the expansion of government and to fund their pet projects. Most people understand the need to fund police, the fire department, roads, etc. They do not want to fund social engineering projects or giveaways to Democrat Party voting blocs. Property taxes should not be eliminated but they must be controlled to corrupt politicians do not use other people's property as their personal piggybank.
I think this gets at the heart of the issue for most conservatives. We have a leadership class that is squandering our public resources. So naturally, people don't want to provide resources to that project. The real answer is that we need good leaders who use our resources well, not that we should have no public resources (as if that were possible).
I think the waste and abuse are the issue. Public schools are a huge offender on this front. It also doesn’t help that poor immigrants (domestic and foreign) flood communities and use up services reserved for people who paid their fair share. They generally cost more to educate, protect, and clean up after. This is where the bulk of our taxes go.
You sound like Ned Flanders who happily credits taxes for sunshine and people who don’t want to work. I think Americans understand that public devices cost money, but are angry that their taxes (and HOA fees) are so high. We need more efficient programs, more transparency, and far fewer people bilking the system. Otherwise, yes, I might just say we should go our separate ways and pay for this stuff privately.
“The bulk” of property taxes do not go to paying for illegal immigrants. It’s a part of the issue, but it should not be used as a justification for yet another degradation of public services for the majority of law abiding citizens.
It is debating whether to cut property taxes or sales taxes with that surplus.
It seems clear to me that cutting property taxes is the better of those two options. Sales taxes impact consumption and in the case of Florida are often paid by tourists. Property tax changes would probably be done by increasing the homestead exemption, which would give direct tax relieve to middle class homeowners who live in Florida as their primary residence.
Florida has universal school choice paid for through school vouchers. I send my kids to a private school with those vouchers.
Property taxes have become a way for the local teachers unions to fund bloated school budgets. I don't see this as "pro-social" but union graft. Because of the SALT deduction many districts were able to raise property taxes to insane levels to fund local school budget bloat because the federal government was subsidizing 32-37% of it. That's how you get NY spending $40,000 per kid per year on shitty schools.
Its kind of similar to the government funding so much of Medicaid expansion that states will tax their own medical providers because the feds cover 90% of the tax and they see it as a way to steal money from the feds for their state.
So basically I think this analysis of yours is really off.
Right. No one is proposing ending taxation or stopping paying for and providing the current suite of public services. The question is one of overall budget and which kind of taxes are better to raise the needed revenues. For some places, sure, the best answer is property tax. For others, sales tax, or income tax, or tourism-targeted taxes like in Florida, or oil and gas production taxes like in Alaska or Texas. There is nothing sacred or holy about the property tax as a matter of principle.
Property tax is perhaps the most justified tax of all. You can build more iphones but you can’t build more land. It’s the one thing we *have* to share, according to the laws of geometry.
It’s also one of the fairest taxes there is, in terms of neither being progressive nor regresssive.
Of course, states like MA and CA that imposed limits on the increase in property taxes for existing homeowners in the interest of “fairness” and “the little guy” have now cause a situation where older richer people are paying MUCH lower property taxes than younger newer buyers, and this is anything but fair.
I think part of this is to keep in mind the split between the school tax from the local property tax. Certainly there is flab in budgets to trim to keep property taxes reasonable to cover sewage, maintenance, etc. But school budgets are out of control in my blue state. Budget votes are rubber stamps basically (many capital votes happen in the winter when seniors snowbird) and are covering jumbotrons and underwater cameras in olympic pools. Why should a couple lose their home they've lived in for decades if they can't cover a school tax?
Also, even in high tax states the roads suck, so that isn't a great argument to use. They would be better if only we taxed MORE is a liberal mindset.
Living in a community means paying for schools. Where would you have gone to school if the generation before you said “fuck it, my kids graduated a decade ago”?
I'm not advocating for zero schools or for full-on libertarian anarchy. Just re-assess school budgets. I am uncomfortable with the logic of "community means paying for X" since that is a classic liberal talking point to justify any of their insane programs.
My parents paid for Catholic school obviously in addition to their school taxes, as did their parents, so the importance of a good education is not lost on me. I have no problem with having a local tax to support schooling.
You mistake fraud abuse and wasteful spending outrage with wanting total elimination. Look at nashville. We passed a proposition 30 yrs ago that property tax increases be voted on by the populace before it went into effect. The administrations here have repeatedly used a shell game to avoid that: they raise the assessments, drop the mean rate (ordered by state statute) and then raise the rate later to what it was before re-assessment, claiming they have not raised the rate. This has gone on for decades now. The council voted its members (and families!!) permanent medical insurance, even when they leave office, out of property tax funds. The new billion dollar stadium is another example of bilking property taxpayers, which is also lied about through creative bullshit. We have an avowed left wing mayor with zero experience managing ANYTHING, at the helm, with a council that always has clipped wings to reign in a mayor of any stripe.
School systems typically account for 80% of property tax expenditures , and as you imply, look at that for a perfect example of wasted funds.
So what we want is not irresponsibility for civic stability and good, we want accountability and some measure of control. It isn't happening, so you have Fire and Police personnel that cannot afford to live in the nashville environs. You failed to mention that California actually has a means of controlling property taxes, and their self immolation isnt due to that mechanism, as leftists continually claim. We need something, and the problem is not 'fuck you Ive got mine'.
A reason why nice homes in red state metros have exorbitant property taxes is 1) the states (TN, TX, FL) don't have an state income tax, thus localities try to compensate by hiking property taxes 2) the value of these homes have grown exponentially over the last few years as people want to move to these areas.
The people are unlikely to ever vote for property tax increases, especially in the South.
Nashville's government sucks but the libs there voted for it.
What's wrong with the south having lower school budgets? Does spending $40,000 per kid per year help NY get better education?
I get $8k in a voucher here in Florida and its worth more to me then the hugely expensive norther public schools are worth. I say keep taxes low and budgets sane.
Well, they certainly did vote for that transportation tax last year. Overwhelmingly:60+%. And that was with NO relevant information as to how that tax revenue would be spent . So I disagree with you that a relevant and appropriate tax increase would not be voted for under any circumstance. And no, it is not just "nice homes" , it is all homes being taxed exhorbitantly. You need to look at the neighborhood distribution of median tax rises last year. This is on top of the Cooper tax rise of over 30% that made national news.You may just be buying into that nonsense in the glossy colored brochure that comes with your tax statement, blaring the notion that property taxes are the "lifeblood" of your community. I think you obviously do . I also think there is a better way to control the spending on useless , inappropriate and overpriced endeavors undertaken by these 'managers'- like health insurance for themselves, and stadia.
It’s so infuriating when people complain property taxes went up because their home went up in value. Your most valuable asset increased in price so dramatically that it noticeably impacted your taxes? Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
A house is not a liquid asset. If the owner's actual income does not rise along with the tax increase (say an elderly person on a fixed income) then they can very quickly get into a situation where the tax bill dramatically impacts their finances. The only way to extract value from their "most valuable asset" is to sell it. But in an inflated market, the only choices are to buy an equally over-assesed home, buying a home in a worse neighborhood, flooding into a poorer state and wrecking the market there, or to downsize significantly. Their complaints are somewhat justified.
The only problem I have with your statement here is that final temporizing word "somewhat". The complaints are *entirely* justified, whether or not a given complainer's proposed solution would be a good idea.
The factor that Scott is citing here -- "the value of these homes have grown exponentially over the last few years as people want to move to these areas"-- is entirely a gain in the *unrealized* value of this (as you point out) illiquid asset. There is virtually zero increase in real utility accompanying this exponential growth is paper value, only the positional value that you get to keep living in a hot cool area (mixed metaphor intended.)
Can’t wait for boomers to complain when the hurricane responses are non existent. Don’t hold your breath for fatass boomers conducting search and rescue, security or route clearance
I think this article misses the point, conflating antisocial Lolbert and Ancap sentiments with the average American grumbling about his tax bill. "Taxation is theft" silliness aside, the most common complaints I see regarding property taxes are of two flavors: 1) the progressive structure of a tax ostensibly levied to pay for ones -relatively- equal share of services provided; and 2) the disproportionate and adverse affect they have on those with fixed income. I would certainly advocate for the replacement of these taxes with higher consumption taxes, or supplementation with a 'Public Service Fee' that would affect non-property-owners as well.
Ending property taxes does not mean the money stream will go away for these governments. They will simply install a new tax elsewhere to replace it. The problem with them is if I happen to be late in paying my $2000 annual property tax, they can put my $400,000 house up for public auction. Its insane.
It’s essentially a massive wealth transfer from the young to the old. Sure you can make up for it with taxes on consumption, but that just means more of the bill goes to young people who don’t own property, don’t get a mortgage tax deduction, and don’t collect social security or medicare. The boomer generation is already vastly more wealthy at their age than all generations before and after, and they get free health care and a government check every month to boot.
I usually agree with your posts but not this one. While I acknowledge lack of community as an issue I think it important to ask why that is. One reason is too many cities no longer provide adequate police protection. Another is a huge swath of LA burned to the ground largely as a result of poor city and state fire prevention and fighting mechanisms. That is the rankest mismanagement. Another is that schools under the management of the federal Depaftment of Education have failed. No other word for it. Another is that roads, and bridges, are hazardous in many, many areas. Personally I think there is a sweet spot between rugged individualism and government management of essential services. That is when the social contract works well. But we are wa-a-a-ay down the road from that. We have at the federal level a massively bloated largely unaccountable bureaucracy that is incapable of effective management. And while I doubt the trickle down theory of benefits or prosperity the federal management operating procedures certainly have trickled down to the state and local level (I think of this as the blue model - zero recognition of the issue just tax and throw money at problem as if money grows on trees). States now privatize prisons and foster care. Foster care! As for the local level, my sweet county is organized into precincts and a commissioner elected from each precinct. That commissioner had his or her own road crews. Roads were well maintained. But then the "modernization" of local politics was sold as a good thing (probably because we were electing people who did not know what an asphalt spreader was much less how one worked) and a county-wide road bureaucracy was established. The roads are now in a perpetual state of disrepair. Lastly, I am a boomer. Because I was not one of the drop-out and turn-on kind I have innate respect for the social contract. But I also earned mine. It is mine. I do not owe it to anyone. Whether I choose to use it for the benefit of others is up to me. That is what private ownership of property means. And every time I see a comment whining about how easy boomers had it (remember Vietnam ass*#×e or 18% mortgage rates or what having a fiat currency has meant to the US dollar? ) or worse demanding redistribution of their wealth (which really is just calling for their death) my spine stiffens. I. Will.Be.
Due to anti-government dogmatism, Americans have wrecked their state capacity for development, a social safety net, infrastructure or anything outside of making bombs. It’s ridiculous how France is better at building public infrastructure in terms of cost per mile of their metros, or high speed rail that dots the country.
Once politicians and bureaucrats found out that they could threaten to evict you for "unpaid property taxes" they went wild and used this threat to grow their corrupt fiefdoms. They won't quit until they're stopped.
All property ownership should be by allodial title. Anything else is renting from the state. Sorry that you can't imagine the world our great grandparents enjoyed.
Public schools (the major beneficiary of property taxes in most areas) should not exist. Parents should pay for the education of their children. If they can't pay, there will be options available (ie church-run schools).
Vehicle registration and fuel taxes should pay for roads and their maintenance. Nothing else is needed.
Many people in unincorporated areas already pay for fire service as a separate item monthly. If you don't pay, they show up and keep the fire at your house from spreading to adjacent, paid up structures.
This isn't a fantasy, it's the way things worked in most areas up until the 1920s. They can work this way again if we shrink the .gov monster back to its proper size - tiny.
1) Your great-grandparents paid property taxes and likely sent their kids to public schools
2) Forcing parents to pay for education is anti-natalist and further signals we want to go child-free as a society.
3) Most churches can barely keep a roof over their head, much less provide free education to poor families without any taxpayer money.
4) The property tax haters will then complain to high heaven about the insane vehicle and fuel taxes that are hiked up to compensate for the missing property taxes. They will quickly forget why they're so high and demand they be eliminated while favoring a different tax to offset the cost.
5) The vast majority of Americans don't live in unincorporated areas and this sounds like a terrible model to follow.
If you want to return to the 1920s, then let's eliminate social security and Medicare, and also give up on our empire. The property tax haters won't be happy with this as they lose their retirements, healthcare, and access to affordable goods while China becomes the undisputed global hegemon.
Government isn't the solution to every problem - it's the cause of most of them.
We were a better, stronger, healthier country when we didn't have an empire, social security or Medicare.
Property taxes are nothing less than money being stolen from you at gunpoint to support an immense amount of fraud, waste and abuse at the local and regional levels.
My great grandparents sent their children to cooperative schools - big difference. Families with kids got together and hired/paid teachers for the year. It couldn't have been that anti-natalist - my grandma was one of 11 kids, the other grandparents had between 3 and 8 siblings each.
It was only when government started taxing everyone heavily to pay for endless wars, rapefugees, "empire" and welfare programs that birthrates went down.
Most larger churches will have no problem paying for a "school ministry" if they quit wasting money on overseas missions, weekly audiovisual extravaganzas, etc. Churches need to take care of the communities they exist in first and foremost. If they made themselves relevant to the community, maybe more people would support them.
Individually paid fire service works in cities/towns too - again, it's paying a simple monthly bill instead of a bloated tax charge.
At a certain point, libertarians like this should just be made fun of without even bothering to respond to them.
You are making the same tired arguments I've seen a million times: individualism, bootstrapping, and government being the cause and never solution to problems.
“… and government being the cause and never solution to problems ”
Just because he is wrong about most of his argument and the extremes he goes to doesn’t change the fact that that in reality government *is* the cause of most current problems, and additional government the solution to very few current problems.
Well put. I’d also add that hiking vehicle and consumption taxes will effectively just shift the tax burden onto young people. Seniors already have free healthcare, free money every month, and houses that cost pennies compared to today.
Eh, it's a little hyperbolic. Certainly not all boomers are this selfish. But the point still stands - we have created a society that cares little for its progeny and the common good.
A strange idea that keeps coming up in these discussions is only taxing property if you have a mortgage, as if it is penalty for people with a specific kind of bank loan.
Property taxes are a huge problem in Texas because that's how localities fund schools. Roughly $.60 of every dollar in property taxes goes to schools, and when they need more they propose and always pass bonds, "for the children". Our small local school (300 kids K-12) has a $20 million football stadium and a $10 million basketball gym - schools indeed. Paying what amounts to 1-2% of your property's value, every year, is robbery, period.
Need more right-wingers to get involved in local politics to make sure the money is being spent wisely. I'm going to make an effort to try and start going to city council meetings.
I agree with the article in general, even though I am a "Boomer". The ugly fact is that Democrats (and some Republicans) pile on the property taxes to finance the expansion of government and to fund their pet projects. Most people understand the need to fund police, the fire department, roads, etc. They do not want to fund social engineering projects or giveaways to Democrat Party voting blocs. Property taxes should not be eliminated but they must be controlled to corrupt politicians do not use other people's property as their personal piggybank.
I think this gets at the heart of the issue for most conservatives. We have a leadership class that is squandering our public resources. So naturally, people don't want to provide resources to that project. The real answer is that we need good leaders who use our resources well, not that we should have no public resources (as if that were possible).
I think the waste and abuse are the issue. Public schools are a huge offender on this front. It also doesn’t help that poor immigrants (domestic and foreign) flood communities and use up services reserved for people who paid their fair share. They generally cost more to educate, protect, and clean up after. This is where the bulk of our taxes go.
You sound like Ned Flanders who happily credits taxes for sunshine and people who don’t want to work. I think Americans understand that public devices cost money, but are angry that their taxes (and HOA fees) are so high. We need more efficient programs, more transparency, and far fewer people bilking the system. Otherwise, yes, I might just say we should go our separate ways and pay for this stuff privately.
“The bulk” of property taxes do not go to paying for illegal immigrants. It’s a part of the issue, but it should not be used as a justification for yet another degradation of public services for the majority of law abiding citizens.
Florida currently has a huge budget surplus.
It is debating whether to cut property taxes or sales taxes with that surplus.
It seems clear to me that cutting property taxes is the better of those two options. Sales taxes impact consumption and in the case of Florida are often paid by tourists. Property tax changes would probably be done by increasing the homestead exemption, which would give direct tax relieve to middle class homeowners who live in Florida as their primary residence.
Florida has universal school choice paid for through school vouchers. I send my kids to a private school with those vouchers.
Property taxes have become a way for the local teachers unions to fund bloated school budgets. I don't see this as "pro-social" but union graft. Because of the SALT deduction many districts were able to raise property taxes to insane levels to fund local school budget bloat because the federal government was subsidizing 32-37% of it. That's how you get NY spending $40,000 per kid per year on shitty schools.
Its kind of similar to the government funding so much of Medicaid expansion that states will tax their own medical providers because the feds cover 90% of the tax and they see it as a way to steal money from the feds for their state.
So basically I think this analysis of yours is really off.
Right. No one is proposing ending taxation or stopping paying for and providing the current suite of public services. The question is one of overall budget and which kind of taxes are better to raise the needed revenues. For some places, sure, the best answer is property tax. For others, sales tax, or income tax, or tourism-targeted taxes like in Florida, or oil and gas production taxes like in Alaska or Texas. There is nothing sacred or holy about the property tax as a matter of principle.
Property tax is perhaps the most justified tax of all. You can build more iphones but you can’t build more land. It’s the one thing we *have* to share, according to the laws of geometry.
It’s also one of the fairest taxes there is, in terms of neither being progressive nor regresssive.
Of course, states like MA and CA that imposed limits on the increase in property taxes for existing homeowners in the interest of “fairness” and “the little guy” have now cause a situation where older richer people are paying MUCH lower property taxes than younger newer buyers, and this is anything but fair.
Where the author objects to proposals to eliminate property taxes altogether, I agree with him.
OTOH DeSantis has not actually done this.
Where the author is criticizing reductions in property taxes in well-managed states like FL, I’m very much with you and forum.
I think part of this is to keep in mind the split between the school tax from the local property tax. Certainly there is flab in budgets to trim to keep property taxes reasonable to cover sewage, maintenance, etc. But school budgets are out of control in my blue state. Budget votes are rubber stamps basically (many capital votes happen in the winter when seniors snowbird) and are covering jumbotrons and underwater cameras in olympic pools. Why should a couple lose their home they've lived in for decades if they can't cover a school tax?
Also, even in high tax states the roads suck, so that isn't a great argument to use. They would be better if only we taxed MORE is a liberal mindset.
Living in a community means paying for schools. Where would you have gone to school if the generation before you said “fuck it, my kids graduated a decade ago”?
I'm not advocating for zero schools or for full-on libertarian anarchy. Just re-assess school budgets. I am uncomfortable with the logic of "community means paying for X" since that is a classic liberal talking point to justify any of their insane programs.
My parents paid for Catholic school obviously in addition to their school taxes, as did their parents, so the importance of a good education is not lost on me. I have no problem with having a local tax to support schooling.
I’m all for reassessing how the money is spent, but this issue is over who spends it.
You mistake fraud abuse and wasteful spending outrage with wanting total elimination. Look at nashville. We passed a proposition 30 yrs ago that property tax increases be voted on by the populace before it went into effect. The administrations here have repeatedly used a shell game to avoid that: they raise the assessments, drop the mean rate (ordered by state statute) and then raise the rate later to what it was before re-assessment, claiming they have not raised the rate. This has gone on for decades now. The council voted its members (and families!!) permanent medical insurance, even when they leave office, out of property tax funds. The new billion dollar stadium is another example of bilking property taxpayers, which is also lied about through creative bullshit. We have an avowed left wing mayor with zero experience managing ANYTHING, at the helm, with a council that always has clipped wings to reign in a mayor of any stripe.
School systems typically account for 80% of property tax expenditures , and as you imply, look at that for a perfect example of wasted funds.
So what we want is not irresponsibility for civic stability and good, we want accountability and some measure of control. It isn't happening, so you have Fire and Police personnel that cannot afford to live in the nashville environs. You failed to mention that California actually has a means of controlling property taxes, and their self immolation isnt due to that mechanism, as leftists continually claim. We need something, and the problem is not 'fuck you Ive got mine'.
A reason why nice homes in red state metros have exorbitant property taxes is 1) the states (TN, TX, FL) don't have an state income tax, thus localities try to compensate by hiking property taxes 2) the value of these homes have grown exponentially over the last few years as people want to move to these areas.
The people are unlikely to ever vote for property tax increases, especially in the South.
Nashville's government sucks but the libs there voted for it.
What's wrong with the south having lower school budgets? Does spending $40,000 per kid per year help NY get better education?
I get $8k in a voucher here in Florida and its worth more to me then the hugely expensive norther public schools are worth. I say keep taxes low and budgets sane.
Well, they certainly did vote for that transportation tax last year. Overwhelmingly:60+%. And that was with NO relevant information as to how that tax revenue would be spent . So I disagree with you that a relevant and appropriate tax increase would not be voted for under any circumstance. And no, it is not just "nice homes" , it is all homes being taxed exhorbitantly. You need to look at the neighborhood distribution of median tax rises last year. This is on top of the Cooper tax rise of over 30% that made national news.You may just be buying into that nonsense in the glossy colored brochure that comes with your tax statement, blaring the notion that property taxes are the "lifeblood" of your community. I think you obviously do . I also think there is a better way to control the spending on useless , inappropriate and overpriced endeavors undertaken by these 'managers'- like health insurance for themselves, and stadia.
It’s so infuriating when people complain property taxes went up because their home went up in value. Your most valuable asset increased in price so dramatically that it noticeably impacted your taxes? Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
A house is not a liquid asset. If the owner's actual income does not rise along with the tax increase (say an elderly person on a fixed income) then they can very quickly get into a situation where the tax bill dramatically impacts their finances. The only way to extract value from their "most valuable asset" is to sell it. But in an inflated market, the only choices are to buy an equally over-assesed home, buying a home in a worse neighborhood, flooding into a poorer state and wrecking the market there, or to downsize significantly. Their complaints are somewhat justified.
The only problem I have with your statement here is that final temporizing word "somewhat". The complaints are *entirely* justified, whether or not a given complainer's proposed solution would be a good idea.
The factor that Scott is citing here -- "the value of these homes have grown exponentially over the last few years as people want to move to these areas"-- is entirely a gain in the *unrealized* value of this (as you point out) illiquid asset. There is virtually zero increase in real utility accompanying this exponential growth is paper value, only the positional value that you get to keep living in a hot cool area (mixed metaphor intended.)
Can’t wait for boomers to complain when the hurricane responses are non existent. Don’t hold your breath for fatass boomers conducting search and rescue, security or route clearance
I am at the frontlines of this debate in municipal civil infrastructure. Thank you.
I think this article misses the point, conflating antisocial Lolbert and Ancap sentiments with the average American grumbling about his tax bill. "Taxation is theft" silliness aside, the most common complaints I see regarding property taxes are of two flavors: 1) the progressive structure of a tax ostensibly levied to pay for ones -relatively- equal share of services provided; and 2) the disproportionate and adverse affect they have on those with fixed income. I would certainly advocate for the replacement of these taxes with higher consumption taxes, or supplementation with a 'Public Service Fee' that would affect non-property-owners as well.
One thing you are missing is that living in a home IS consumption!!
Renters effectively pay property taxes too, even if they don’t realize it.
Ending property taxes does not mean the money stream will go away for these governments. They will simply install a new tax elsewhere to replace it. The problem with them is if I happen to be late in paying my $2000 annual property tax, they can put my $400,000 house up for public auction. Its insane.
It’s essentially a massive wealth transfer from the young to the old. Sure you can make up for it with taxes on consumption, but that just means more of the bill goes to young people who don’t own property, don’t get a mortgage tax deduction, and don’t collect social security or medicare. The boomer generation is already vastly more wealthy at their age than all generations before and after, and they get free health care and a government check every month to boot.
I usually agree with your posts but not this one. While I acknowledge lack of community as an issue I think it important to ask why that is. One reason is too many cities no longer provide adequate police protection. Another is a huge swath of LA burned to the ground largely as a result of poor city and state fire prevention and fighting mechanisms. That is the rankest mismanagement. Another is that schools under the management of the federal Depaftment of Education have failed. No other word for it. Another is that roads, and bridges, are hazardous in many, many areas. Personally I think there is a sweet spot between rugged individualism and government management of essential services. That is when the social contract works well. But we are wa-a-a-ay down the road from that. We have at the federal level a massively bloated largely unaccountable bureaucracy that is incapable of effective management. And while I doubt the trickle down theory of benefits or prosperity the federal management operating procedures certainly have trickled down to the state and local level (I think of this as the blue model - zero recognition of the issue just tax and throw money at problem as if money grows on trees). States now privatize prisons and foster care. Foster care! As for the local level, my sweet county is organized into precincts and a commissioner elected from each precinct. That commissioner had his or her own road crews. Roads were well maintained. But then the "modernization" of local politics was sold as a good thing (probably because we were electing people who did not know what an asphalt spreader was much less how one worked) and a county-wide road bureaucracy was established. The roads are now in a perpetual state of disrepair. Lastly, I am a boomer. Because I was not one of the drop-out and turn-on kind I have innate respect for the social contract. But I also earned mine. It is mine. I do not owe it to anyone. Whether I choose to use it for the benefit of others is up to me. That is what private ownership of property means. And every time I see a comment whining about how easy boomers had it (remember Vietnam ass*#×e or 18% mortgage rates or what having a fiat currency has meant to the US dollar? ) or worse demanding redistribution of their wealth (which really is just calling for their death) my spine stiffens. I. Will.Be.
Damned. And I do not intend for that to happen.
Due to anti-government dogmatism, Americans have wrecked their state capacity for development, a social safety net, infrastructure or anything outside of making bombs. It’s ridiculous how France is better at building public infrastructure in terms of cost per mile of their metros, or high speed rail that dots the country.
You *might be correct about the rest, but the idea that Americans have wrecked their state capacity for… a social safety net” is Orwellian lunacy.
The fact that we spend so much on the social safety net is one of the major problems we face as a country.
Once politicians and bureaucrats found out that they could threaten to evict you for "unpaid property taxes" they went wild and used this threat to grow their corrupt fiefdoms. They won't quit until they're stopped.
All property ownership should be by allodial title. Anything else is renting from the state. Sorry that you can't imagine the world our great grandparents enjoyed.
Public schools (the major beneficiary of property taxes in most areas) should not exist. Parents should pay for the education of their children. If they can't pay, there will be options available (ie church-run schools).
Vehicle registration and fuel taxes should pay for roads and their maintenance. Nothing else is needed.
Many people in unincorporated areas already pay for fire service as a separate item monthly. If you don't pay, they show up and keep the fire at your house from spreading to adjacent, paid up structures.
This isn't a fantasy, it's the way things worked in most areas up until the 1920s. They can work this way again if we shrink the .gov monster back to its proper size - tiny.
This is a fantasy
1) Your great-grandparents paid property taxes and likely sent their kids to public schools
2) Forcing parents to pay for education is anti-natalist and further signals we want to go child-free as a society.
3) Most churches can barely keep a roof over their head, much less provide free education to poor families without any taxpayer money.
4) The property tax haters will then complain to high heaven about the insane vehicle and fuel taxes that are hiked up to compensate for the missing property taxes. They will quickly forget why they're so high and demand they be eliminated while favoring a different tax to offset the cost.
5) The vast majority of Americans don't live in unincorporated areas and this sounds like a terrible model to follow.
If you want to return to the 1920s, then let's eliminate social security and Medicare, and also give up on our empire. The property tax haters won't be happy with this as they lose their retirements, healthcare, and access to affordable goods while China becomes the undisputed global hegemon.
Sorry dude, this is reality
Government isn't the solution to every problem - it's the cause of most of them.
We were a better, stronger, healthier country when we didn't have an empire, social security or Medicare.
Property taxes are nothing less than money being stolen from you at gunpoint to support an immense amount of fraud, waste and abuse at the local and regional levels.
My great grandparents sent their children to cooperative schools - big difference. Families with kids got together and hired/paid teachers for the year. It couldn't have been that anti-natalist - my grandma was one of 11 kids, the other grandparents had between 3 and 8 siblings each.
It was only when government started taxing everyone heavily to pay for endless wars, rapefugees, "empire" and welfare programs that birthrates went down.
Most larger churches will have no problem paying for a "school ministry" if they quit wasting money on overseas missions, weekly audiovisual extravaganzas, etc. Churches need to take care of the communities they exist in first and foremost. If they made themselves relevant to the community, maybe more people would support them.
Individually paid fire service works in cities/towns too - again, it's paying a simple monthly bill instead of a bloated tax charge.
At a certain point, libertarians like this should just be made fun of without even bothering to respond to them.
You are making the same tired arguments I've seen a million times: individualism, bootstrapping, and government being the cause and never solution to problems.
“… and government being the cause and never solution to problems ”
Just because he is wrong about most of his argument and the extremes he goes to doesn’t change the fact that that in reality government *is* the cause of most current problems, and additional government the solution to very few current problems.
Bad governance is the cause of many problems. Right governance is the solution.
Usually, LESS governance is the solution to most problems of bad governance.
Not all, for sure, but for most.
Well put. I’d also add that hiking vehicle and consumption taxes will effectively just shift the tax burden onto young people. Seniors already have free healthcare, free money every month, and houses that cost pennies compared to today.
The author’s desire to impute malign motives to people he disagrees with is a very poor substitute for having an actual argument.
Eh, it's a little hyperbolic. Certainly not all boomers are this selfish. But the point still stands - we have created a society that cares little for its progeny and the common good.
A strange idea that keeps coming up in these discussions is only taxing property if you have a mortgage, as if it is penalty for people with a specific kind of bank loan.
That’s truly despicable. Funnel more money from the young to the old.
Property taxes are a huge problem in Texas because that's how localities fund schools. Roughly $.60 of every dollar in property taxes goes to schools, and when they need more they propose and always pass bonds, "for the children". Our small local school (300 kids K-12) has a $20 million football stadium and a $10 million basketball gym - schools indeed. Paying what amounts to 1-2% of your property's value, every year, is robbery, period.