Taxes do drive down home values but they also keep the rich or well to do from mingling with the poor and those of other races. The most segregated states in America are the most liberal and that is how they disguise segregation.
Most property taxes are tyrannical as the vast majority of property taxes go to the state mandated public school...if you don't want to send your kids to that particular public school-—you have to pay twice, first for the lousy public school and second for the school you really do want your kids to go to...if there was real school choice/competition (public, private, homeschool etc), the schools would be awesome, and property taxes would be much easier to swallow.
I dread the property tax bill every October, and I only have county taxes, no city taxes....
There should never be taxes on property. They are called “Land Rents” and were paid to the King. Nothing different here. Fail to pay your taxes and the King takes your land. Same thing. We fought a Revolutionary War over this type of nonsense.
Here’s the irony of property taxes. They simply “soak the rich” because they are based on value, not proportional costs incurred or benefits received.
Say there is a vacant buildable lot next to my home. If I buy it to have more space, I ensure that there will be less future demand on our schools, roads, and for other services. Yet I’m being charged more because I have to pay the taxes on two properties now.
I understand that by keeping someone from improving the lot, I’m depressing the tax base, but that’s about the government’s NEED for more money where they can get it, and not based on the demands a property puts on local services.
We are currently hoping to sell our house for $170k. Property taxes are five grand a year. Ten years ago the house cost us $175k and taxes were $3500 a year. How’s that for nuts?