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Originally Posted by brianna
It seems that such a law would quickly lead to limiting the right to vote to only the wealthy and i'd hope that we'd all like to avoid that.
In the best of all possible worlds property taxes are reinvesting in the community and the benefits reaped by the community lead to increased value for the houses within this community. Better schools, roads, hospitals, etc improve the life for everyone in a community and yet i suspect that if you let home owners directly dictate how much money they should pay in property taxes you'd end up with a community that lacks the necessary funds to support these infrastructures. The sad fact is that too often when people are asked to contribute to the good of society they say no and if we allowed this we'd all be the worse for it. Taxes are not optional because they are not charity as a society we all need to accept financial reasonability for the society we are creating.
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While I agree with you in principle, I differ in the details.
I am not suggesting disenfranchisement. However, the present property tax system reminds me of a group of wolves standing near a sheep and discussing what they should have for lunch.
In regard to facilities: It has been my experience that people will vote to pay for what they deem important.
Two examples: My county recently voted to keep a 1% sales tax earmarked for highway improvement. For the next FORTY years.
It passed with 67% of the vote. I can't argue with that.
Additionally, some of my neighbors got together and paid to underground their utilities. They weren't willing to wait ten years for the city to do it. This, in my opinion, is the proper philosophy. If you want something, pay for it yourself or do without. Don't require other people to pay for your wants involuntarily.
On a slightly different note, I oppose taxes to build low-income housing in some areas. In my state, it's required, even in some of the exclusive neighborhoods.
You therefore wind up with the unemployed and underemployed demanding the equivalent of a place on the French Riviera. That's just not logical, or proper. Or fair.
Just to round things out, I am not advocating an end to taxes. Just a reduction, something I've never seen in a Democratic administration.