Crazy Idea about property taxes?

You could move to Ohio. In Ohio, you can vote against bonds presented by the town or school board.

Where my taxes go:

County School
County General
County Health
School General
School Building
Votec General
Votec Building
EMS
County Library

Property taxes are evil.

Services should be privatized and optional and schools and roads could be funded by a sales tax.

I wonder about all the, tax whiners.
They don't want to pay their taxes but, expect fire and police protection when needed.
They send their kids to school, but don't want to pay for that either.
They drive on our roads but, always taking the side of those who, de-fund our infrastructure.

And those that rent that some seem to think are not paying taxes. You bet they do the owner of the property has that all figured into the price he puts on that rental unit. So the Renter is indeed "paying" for said property taxes, even though it is not a separate amount, part of his rent check Pays The Taxes.

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For me, it's the waste that bothers me.

I do see how many see it as unfair to pay taxes to operate schools. I'm not sure I disagree.

The problem is, our nation has become a nation of 'shared risks' and 'shared expenses'. What may have seemed like a good thing at one time, wasn't. Think about it, our utilities, our roads, our police department, fire department, hospitals, schools, our healthcare, etc., etc.

If we were put on a 'pay for it if you use it' basis, I think it would be OK - if we could re educate the people.

In our town, our water, sewer and garbage are $85 a month, whether we turn on a tap, flush a commode or put out one bag of garbage. There is a minimum on the water and you pay more if you exceed that, but sewer and garbage are the same. We only exceed the minimum when we are watering a garden during the summer.

We had an older neighbor lady, in her 90's. She was declining in health and had help two days a week. The lady, who worked for her, said she did 3 loads of clothes a week - small loads. She only did that many because of the need to separate clothes. She seldom used the dishwasher, just washed a few pieces twice a week. The lady did towel baths on her own, but only took a shower on the two days a week the lady was there. I watched the lady bring out her garbage - one small sack - half full- each week.

Now this little lady paid the same amount as others who used much more of the services provided for that $85 a month. That always bothered me. She was subsidizing many who used much more. That simply isn't right and it doesn't encourage anyone to conserve. If everyone paid according to their usage, I'm thinking a lot would learn not to waste water, to compost, etc.

I'm thinking if everyone was shelling out the money to educate their children, they would demand better than what we are getting from our tax dollars.

not always true.

some of these services are never used or expected by many and even denied in cases.
I understand that certain things need to be funded, though in a realistic manner.

if you have a hot dog budget do you go shopping for T-BONEs, I believe its often termed beer budget and champagne tastes.

that is part of the issue, the other is waste.

there are many things that are forced upon us, that we should have the option to opt out of if we desire. now my house in the middle of no where burning down to the foundation vs someone else's surrounded on 3 sides if not 4 is slightly different. but there is a lot to be said for volunteer fire fighters. among other civil services. that is the way things where originally done in many instances, they where not intended as careers.

when you are spending money thats not yours real easy to be casual with it. then you also get this notion with government and business that the money barrels bottomless, sort of how the first settlers felt about natural resources.

I don't have any kids and don't appreciate supporting other people's children. That includes paying for their education and welfare funds. I am tired of women popping out kids they can't afford. America rewards the deadbeats and punishes the responsible individuals.

That isnt itemized. I see no numbers with it. You forgot one:

Wasted revenue

where does all that go? waste...
Big fat WASTE!

the jobs get lower paying, if you can find one and they just came by to raise the taxes again, crazy! School here isnt the big problem, county is and village if your in it.

Fire protection in my county isn't free. It cost money, in fact it can cost a lot of money if you have a big fire. My old boss's field started on fire along with a little bit of his forest, the bill was $19,000.

Police protection comes at a cost as well. It is no secret that a lot of departments use ticket revenue to make up most of their budget. When it comes to actually making them do something useful they'll roll their eyes, sigh, or flat out refuse (my experience anyway with trying to get them to do VIN inspections or when my nieghbor was ripping down my parent's fence).

We have a school system that is beat by third world countries. My brother couldn't read in 5th grade. My mother took him out of school and within a year and a half he was slightly ahead.

We have huge road construction companies that have special rates for the state versus private individuals. Workers make double and triple while working on a state job versus doing someone's private road or parking lot.

The problem isn't so much that stuff needs to be paid for as much as it is the huge waste and blatant incompetence that seem to go along with government functions. Would you keep buying from a business that delivered a third rate product for a ridiculous price? Why shouldn't people expect the government to be accountable?

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I had an idea about this this morning, IDK maybe something to kick around. What if parents were responsible for their child's education (via home schooling or 'education day-care') up to grade 4. At which point, the child can be enrolled in public school.

This would cut the public schools burden by 1/4 th and the taxpayers burden significantly.

In York, PA it is not so much the property tax that is increasing as the school tax portion of the bill that increases by at least 3% yearly. At that rate in 30 years when I am 73 my taxes will have gone up by 90% when I am on a fixed income and is the reason why most of the old people around here are losing their homes. Just last month in a single week I counted 527 properties in foreclosure inthe newspaper. And that is just York. What about the rest of the country? How many of us will be forced into low income, crime ridden neighborhoods because the system sees fit to rob us blind.

It is all done with your consent. Those who will survive this system are going to be those who consent less. The alternative also has risks but fewer illusions.

Not sure what any of that means. I'm saying the property taxes are too high and we should lower them.

If you consent then you have no opinion in the matter. If the property tax is set too high then your property will be seized and sold to someone else who can afford the taxes (for a while anyway).

I told you earlier how your consent is voluntarily given.

Consider land instead of property. There is no such thing as land tax.

I wonder about all those who feel entitled to a portion of my earnings. I don't notice anyone else (well, other human beings) about when I'm out walking dogs and toting hay to pastures in the cold and dark. I get paid for this service. God has provided this work and its earnings to me. I choose to use and share part of these earnings in various ways, from buying necessities to helping someone in need.

We pay our taxes, every penny. We report every cent of earnings. We do this under pain of incarceration, not because we think it is just, certainly not constitutional or even minimally functional (our system of taxation is regressive and completely inefficient - poor people are paying a tax when they buy food and many medicines, for example).

We pay because they will put us in jail if we don't. It's important to remember that about taxes: we have no choice. The money is paid under duress. Sales taxes are paid or you don't drive, eat or take otc medicines.

Today's police are not our friends and due to the constraints of time and distance show up well after something bad happens. We have to defend ourselves whether they are funded by taxes or not.

Where I grew up, fire protection used to be provided by volunteers, paid for within the community by voluntary donations and an annual fundraiser.

I would not send a child to the public schools today and have sacrificed a great deal (materially) to help homeschool my grandchildren.

Taxes that support necessary infrastructure (roads, bridges) and the national defense are legitimate. A tax - rent paid to the local government - on land I own free and clear is not legitimate.

The United States taxpayers pay more per student for public education than any other nation in the world except Luxembourg. Public school students from the US rank near the bottom (according to the OECD) in math skills. We're funding failure and no amount of taxes are ever enough.

ETA: We have a problem of outrageous expectations and feelings of entitlement in the United States. I have not been immune to this, but my eyes were opened to the difference between liberty and slavery. We are well down the road to slavery because we want more than we can afford. Unjust taxation is just a symptom of our greed.

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I'm not getting it...when did I give my consent to be overtaxed? If my only options are paying the tax or being ejected, I'd hardly consider my acquiescence to be 'consent'.

How is land not taxed? Please consider that I have no intention of dying in a hail of bullets in a stand-off with authorities.

It was the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association that led the battle for Prop 13, which lowered taxes in California. Contact them to see what could be done in your state. http://www.hjta.org/contact-us

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I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

Popeye

You consent with your signature. Think back. Have you signed anything related to property (remember property is not land).
You might have decided to own the land but instead chose to register a deed. You acquiesced.
Land is held in allodium, your ownership recognizes NO superior. No superior means nobody has the power to tax you. Instead you choose to hold it as property (or real estate ... same difference). Property overlays the land. The two are not synonomous.
I agree that would defeat the purpose; however, as it now stands you are not paying your bills anyway. By this I mean the fiat money has no substance backing it. Isn't your state supposed to make only gold or silver tender of payment? How do you suppose they are getting around this provision?

Your status at present is that of an equitable owner. The state actually is the legal owner of your property (again ... not land). In your status your merely a tenant and, like any tenant, when you stop paying your bill (or cannot pay your bill) you get put off. This trust arrangement can be terminated at any time by you. You do this by dropping the pretext of owning property (equitably) to owning land (lawfully). If you feel you cannot do this safely (without bullets) then this is another form of consent, isn't it?

Well said. An 86 year old widow shouldn't be paying the same taxes as somebody who's 40 and has 3 children attending public school just because her house has the same square footage.