[chickadee]

Thanks for posting this. So simple, but so easily taken for granted - the importance of property rights. We do, indeed, need to be reminded of what our “grandpappy” knew.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Possibly because they were largely usurped when the Sixteenth Amendment was passed.

If Uncle Sticky Fingers can take all he wants, how can we have property rights?

[Kaslin]

You are welcome. The poster in post#16 doesn’t seem to get it

[tbw2]

The Mexican farmer has little reason to try to build complex infrastructure because a corrupt politician can take it all away, often using antiquities laws. That keeps productivity low unless they leave the country and head north.

[Kellis91789]

But do we really own property when the local government can step in and take it away if we fail to pay taxes on it every year ?

People rant about income taxes, but at least those taxes are only paid once — at the time the income is received. You spend what is left over (after you’ve paid taxes on that income) on property, and then you have to pay taxes on the property every year forever ? Usually with no control over what value some faceless bureaucrat assigns to your property ? To me, that makes property taxes the most evil of all taxes.