Taking Liberty: How Private Property is being Abolished in America

Taking Liberty is a comprehensive look at the lower 48 states showing, region by region, how the Environmental Movement is rapidly abolishing Private Property in America.

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http://blogs.forbes.com/larrybell/2011/06/14/the-u-n-s-earth-summit-has-its-head-in-the-clouds/
Earth Summit chairman Maurice Strong left no doubt about where to place blame for global problems, stating in the conference report: “It is clear that current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class…involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and convenience foods, ownership of motor vehicles, golf courses, small electric appliances, home and work place air-conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable…A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns.”
Addressing the Summit audience, Strong also suggested a primary remedy, whereby: “We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrialized civilization to collapse.”

“Think you “own” the property you reside on? Stop paying your property taxes and see how long you “own” that property. We are merely renters and sharecroppers paying rent through taxes for the privilege of living off the land.”

Yeah, I (and my wife) do own the property I reside on. And either we got to vote on the property taxes and/or the representatives who established the taxes, or we inherited the results of previous votes.

Doesn’t it work that way where you live? Don’t you have taxation with representation?

Or maybe it’s just that you got outvoted by your fellow citizens and you’re having a hissy fit like some Democrat when the vote didn’t turn out to his liking.

In my county, the elected representatives have a fixed budget. If/when they lose revenue (taxes) because a large parcel was willed or sold to the government, which pay no taxes, the amount deemed needed is simply divided by the rest of the remaining taxpayers, resulting in an increase in property taxes.

The budget is fixed because every representative has relatives/friends with unionized county jobs, which they refuse to eliminate. Faced with a shortfall that even an increase in taxes will not fix, they simply apply for federal grants/loans to cover the difference, thereby getting the best of both worlds. Complaints are met with shrugs and the statement:”We have to do this. We have no choice and besides, it is already done, so there.”

Voting for new representatives is futile, because the majority are hard core Greens/leftists. Dissenting representatives are harassed and hounded out of office via such tricks as 1st citing them for outdoor burning and then *discovering* they were burning out-of-date papers relating to their supervisory positions. This results in an innuendo campaign implying the supervisor in question was doing something illegal. Which they were not.

The County Attorney is part of the leftist/Green groupthink.

Is your county majority conservative? Do your Supervisors all support the interests of all the taxpayers? Can you overturn the Board of Supervisors in an election?

All that is protecting us at the moment, is Governor Walker’s budget which caps property taxes at 2% maximum increase for the next 2 years. This is another reason Walker is targeted for recall.

One would think that the Supervisors would not raise their own taxes. In reality, they all have various means to take advantage of legal loopholes which exempt their own property, they have a spouse who is a county employee with ample income from the same taxpayers or they are trust recipients who simply don’t care because they can afford it.

Yes, we were out-voted by our fellow citizens. You see, this is a rural county, one of the poorest in the state. Most of us are self-employed. It is economic suicide to run for office as a dissenter, so the conservative small business people are afraid to run. Those who do pay the price and still cannot influence anything. This also applies to the School Board. The leftists have been moving here in droves over the past 30 years and we cannot stop that.

“Is your county majority conservative?”

It’s majority Republican. Whether or not that’s ‘majority conservative’ is a matter of opinion.

“Do your Supervisors all support the interests of all the taxpayers?”

We have Commissioners, which I assume is about like Supervisors. All the taxpayers don’t agree on their interests or necessarily have interests in common.

“Can you overturn the Board of Supervisors in an election?”

If you mean can we vote in new Commissioners, yes. If you mean can we overturn a decision made by the Commissioners through an election on an issue, I don’t recall one way or another that it has or has not been tried. We do vote down property tax issues on a regular basis, especially relating to school taxes. The issues regarding roads and emergency services usually, though not always, pass.

No, you’re missing the point. I vote in local elections, along with voting on millages and matters involving taxes for services, which we the voters agree to. I live in a rural area, hence the requirements for services are relatively low. Most of the taxes are for schools, the fire department, and roads. The point I’m driving at is where in this country can you buy a parcel of land, live off of that land, and not be required to pay taxes on land for services that you do not utilize nor want. That point lost on most city dwellers is that outside of major metropolitan areas, people tend to be self sufficient, and don’t need or want the services that the government tells us that we must have. Subsistance living and homesteading have been legislated out of existence, and in the process making everyone a tax slave. Like I said, stop paying your property taxes, and see how long you own that property before the sheriff comes knocking on your door to kick you out.

“The point I’m driving at is where in this country can you buy a parcel of land, live off of that land, and not be required to pay taxes on land for services that you do not utilize nor want.”

No place so far as I know, but so what? You can always look outside this country for such a place, but if you find one you'll probably have problems other than property taxes. As to the services that you do not utilize nor want, You and your fellow citizens (or your predecessors) voted either directly or through representatives on those and on how to pay for them. You personally just came out on the losing side of the vote, in some if not all cases. That doesn't make you a slave.

“That point lost on most city dwellers is that outside of major metropolitan areas, people tend to be self sufficient, and don’t need or want the services that the government tells us that we must have.”

It's not the government, whatever you mean by that. It's you and your fellow citizens voting (either directly or through representatives occupying positions in the government structure) to determine how the community of which you are a part will be run. You personally may came out on the losing side of the vote in some if not all cases, but that doesn't make you a slave. You're free to go to a community more to your liking if you can and the community wants to accept you.

“Subsistance living and homesteading have been legislated out of existence, and in the process making everyone a tax slave.”

Stipulating that subsistence living and homesteading have been legislated out of existence, so what? If it was done by legislation, it was you and your fellow citizens (or your predecessors) voting (either directly or through representatives occupying positions in the government structure) to determine the legislation. Some citizens came out on the losing side of the vote, but that doesn't make everyone a tax slave. Anyone who is unwilling to put up with things as they are can work to change them or go someplace else. But if they go someplace else and that someplace else is occupied by people who have organized into a society of some sort, they will probably be expected to comply with the mores of that society just as they are expected to do so here.

“Like I said, stop paying your property taxes, and see how long you own that property before the sheriff comes knocking on your door to kick you out.”

I think around here it'll be a couple of years or so, depending on if they decide to move that quickly and what steps one takes during the judicial process. But, will my property be taken in accordance with established standards if I don't abide by established standards regarding taxes? Possibly. Also, my freedom will possibly be taken in accordance with established standards if I don't abide by established standards regarding taking other’s property for my own use. And my my life will possibly be taken in accordance with established standards if I don't abide by established standards regarding the use of lethal force.

My point is that statements like “we are tax slaves” and “having to pay property taxes means we only rent the property we think we own” are nice emotional sound bites, but they are neither true nor especially helpful. In our society we vote on things, either directly or through representatives and such statements are just indicative of someone who came out on the losing side of a vote.

This goes back to an old argument, which is “why do I have to pay for schools when I don’t have any children”. It’s because your neighbors have children, and don’t have enough money to pay for their education, so they vote to take your money, to pay for it. When the have-nots outnumber the haves, expect your wallet to be picked clean. Before property taxes, people paid fees for services rendered by the local government, or did it themselves. I treat local governments just like any other service industry, because that is what they are. If I need their services, I’ll pay for them. What did communities do before the advent of property taxes? Generations of people have been conditioned to believe that they have to pay their “fair share”, and to “spread the wealth” via taxation, or risk losing their property or freedom. If you chhose to live somwhere where you have to pay taxes for services rendered, so be it, that’s your choice. If you choose to be self sufficient, and not rely on the local government for services rendered, good luck with that.

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