Posted on 06/02/2014 7:18:13 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
“I’m at the breaking point,” said Gretchen Gardner, an Austin artist who bought a 1930s bungalow in the Bouldin neighborhood just south of downtown in 1991 and has watched her property tax bill soar to $8,500 this year.
“It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes,” said Gardner, who attended both meetings. “I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.”
I’m really just bringing this to your attention for this quote alone. Voting and paying are different endeavors entirely. Often, when one has to pay for the things one has voted to fund, that decision becomes less flippant. This is a comment, less on the specifics of Texas’ or Austin’s tax system than the blaring disconnect between liberals in Austin who are voting for higher taxes and the actual paying of the taxes. Which, as it turns out, is painful, discouraging, and can be a detriment to the fabric of the city.
In Texas, there are more than 3,900 localities that impose property taxes, including school districts, counties, and special districts. Texas’ property tax burden has grown from approximately 1 percent of value in the early 1980s to nearly 3 percent today.
The rising burden from property tax is worse for the housing-rich but income-poor elderly homeowners. For example, elderly homeowners tend to move more often to reduce their property tax burden, which is an additional cost of owning a home for those who can least afford to move.
Interestingly, another reason voters hate property taxes is because they are more “salient.” A salient tax means that the burden is transparent, easy to understand, and hard to avoid. If paid directly, property taxes are found to be more salient compared with sales taxes applied at checkout or income taxes withheld from a paycheck.
In 2012, the free-market think tank suggested swapping the local property tax for a sales tax:
New research suggests that if Texas eliminates its local property tax system, ranked as the 14th most oppressive in the nation, and instead replaces those lost revenues with an adjusted sales tax, then the ensuing flood of capital investment and business activity could ignite the Texas economy for years to come.
That’s right, just by changing how Texas governments collect public dollars—but not how much they spend—the Legislature can give the economy and people’s wallets a major boost.
By how much, you ask? Our estimates suggest quite a bit.
Either way, I don’t think Gretchen Gardner is ever going to make the connection between her voting pattern and her bill.
Liberals never vote with a well informed full consideration of all the ramifications of what they vote in favor of, or with any objective study as to whether or not the objectives of the policy will or even can be achieved. They vote only because the vote makes them FEEL good, makes them FEEL they are doing a “good thing”.
OMG when I saw that video with the 14 kids I was DISGUSTED!!!!!! This
Is when I knew how much trouble this country was in 14 kids and not enough common sense to even THINK about how in the HELL they were
going to survive!!!!! Birth control IS AVAILABLE everywhere FREE for
God’s sake and this woman was to stupid to take a pill each day!!!!!!
“I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.””
Hah!!! Funniest thing I’ve read in years! A low information voter who votes to tax “other” people and finds out she is one of them! Hah!
The problem with property taxes is people who don't own property get to vote on whether to raise taxes on property they don't own. Further if you are a property owner you never really own it, you must always pay that fee or the Gub'ment will take it away from you and then sell it to someone else who has to pay the fee or they in turn will lose it.
“Make everyone write a check every quarter to the federal government for their income tax liability. “
The day before election day would be my preference.
Ping.
Ping.
The stupid, it burns.
Did it ever occur to her that OTHER people could not afford to live there after all the taxes imposed for "parks, libraries, school improvements, light rail and anything that will make the city better" that SHE voted for?
No, she didn't. She only woke the F up when it gored her ox.
I so despise these people.
Renters may think they're getting away with taxing someone else but their own rent increases as well, as landlords pass along the tax increases.
Gracias.
The Change™ you voted for, Gretch.
A large portion of renters in cities with high property taxes are getting rent subsidies from the Gub'ment so they don't care because once again they have no skin in the game...
Renters may think they’re getting away with taxing someone else but their own rent increases as well, as landlords pass along the tax increases.
Things that I thought "other people" would pay for and now I'm the "other people" and it's not FAIR!
Gretchen, bless your dear little heart, you get my "Wow, dumber then advertized!" Award for the day.
Gretchen, the big picture is that someone has to pay for all those parks, libraries and roads you voted for. Duh.
Just think what would happen if one of our representatives came out with a measure that says that property taxes end when you make your last mortgage payment. Might not get rid of it all at once, but it would be a step in the right direction.
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