Endless Excuses
Yesterday as I drove to work, I heard some interesting commentary on the radio. WXNT 1430’s “Abdul in the Morning” was speaking with the veteran Brian Howey, author of the Howey Political Report. They were discussing the last day of the Indiana legislature’s session and what bills might make it through. The one that consistently caught my attention was their discussion of Property Tax Reform.
Being an election year, several legislatures, almost all Republicans, have made bones about wanting to abolish the property tax. Were they actually able to do such a thing, it would be nothing short of miraculous. The reality, however, is that it’s just an election-year stunt and the best we can hope for is limited, one-time only minor reform. Property tax in Indiana is expected to rise between 7-14% this year, and analysts have been warning that this is just the beginning. Rising costs of local government, they say, combined with the State’s refusal to continue to subsidize property tax relief, have converged in a “perfect storm”, as I’ve heard it described, to give us a huge hike.
Only two or three years ago, counties like Marion suffered a similar hike due to assessments not being updated in a timely fashion. Now they are about to get hit again, and the rest of the state is going to take a punch along with them. What can we do in the face of this wave of new tax? What is our recourse? Are there alternatives?
According to Brian Howey and Abdul, no there is not. They describe property tax as a “necessary evil” and a “consistent source of revenue” for counties even in times of economic instability. They can think of no easy way to replace it and thus are content to keep it in place. Although there were mutterings of forcing everyone to pay the bills come tax time, as I have often heard with income tax, as a way to jolt people into forcing local governments to do something about the increase, no concrete options were offered. We are just stuck with this necessary evil.
It’s an often quoted item that for evil to succeed, good men need only do nothing. This necessary evil, they suggest, must be tolerated because we as the public will not do anything. Perhaps that is the case, but it doesn’t make what has been done right. Property tax is an intolerable evil. It is a bondage on property that ties the well-being of the owner to his or her ability to keep their property from seizure by the government. If you can’t pay your taxes, then like the days of the legendary Robin Hood, the good Sheriff will arrive, tack a sign on your door and throw you and your family out. End of story. No recourse, just a chance to buy your house back at a tax sale before speculators and other hopefuls snatch up the land and home you sweated and possibly bled to maintain.
That’s the necessary evil the likes of Abdul or Brian Howey say we must tolerate. Since we have no ready alternatives, and since local government has no desire to shrink itself anymore than state or federal government, we are told that we should just shut up and pay the tax. We should pay the fee to be a serf on our political lord’s land. Does that sound like something of and for the People? Does that sound like a free society? Or does it sound like a feudal state? If our best advocates, such as the aforementioned Abdul, tell us there is no hope at present, what are we to think? Are we to continue tolerating this necessary evil that burdens us so? This tax on our very homes, the things we consider most sacred, the land and lodgings we raise our family on?
The answer to me is no. To hell with being told we must tolerate it. Call your legislator. Email him. Pester her. Trouble them. Let them know just how much you don’t like the threat of your home being taken away held like a gun to your head for you to pay Caesar’s tax. The only way to break the chains of property tax is to hammer at the manacles placed on us by government. If enough hammers fall, maybe we have a chance to suffer this necessary evil no longer.
Yesterday as I drove to work, I heard some interesting commentary on the radio. WXNT 1430’s “Abdul in the Morning” was speaking with the veteran Brian Howey, author of the Howey Political Report. They were discussing the last day of the Indiana legislature’s session and what bills might make it through. The one that consistently caught my attention was their discussion of Property Tax Reform.
Being an election year, several legislatures, almost all Republicans, have made bones about wanting to abolish the property tax. Were they actually able to do such a thing, it would be nothing short of miraculous. The reality, however, is that it’s just an election-year stunt and the best we can hope for is limited, one-time only minor reform. Property tax in Indiana is expected to rise between 7-14% this year, and analysts have been warning that this is just the beginning. Rising costs of local government, they say, combined with the State’s refusal to continue to subsidize property tax relief, have converged in a “perfect storm”, as I’ve heard it described, to give us a huge hike.
Only two or three years ago, counties like Marion suffered a similar hike due to assessments not being updated in a timely fashion. Now they are about to get hit again, and the rest of the state is going to take a punch along with them. What can we do in the face of this wave of new tax? What is our recourse? Are there alternatives?
According to Brian Howey and Abdul, no there is not. They describe property tax as a “necessary evil” and a “consistent source of revenue” for counties even in times of economic instability. They can think of no easy way to replace it and thus are content to keep it in place. Although there were mutterings of forcing everyone to pay the bills come tax time, as I have often heard with income tax, as a way to jolt people into forcing local governments to do something about the increase, no concrete options were offered. We are just stuck with this necessary evil.
It’s an often quoted item that for evil to succeed, good men need only do nothing. This necessary evil, they suggest, must be tolerated because we as the public will not do anything. Perhaps that is the case, but it doesn’t make what has been done right. Property tax is an intolerable evil. It is a bondage on property that ties the well-being of the owner to his or her ability to keep their property from seizure by the government. If you can’t pay your taxes, then like the days of the legendary Robin Hood, the good Sheriff will arrive, tack a sign on your door and throw you and your family out. End of story. No recourse, just a chance to buy your house back at a tax sale before speculators and other hopefuls snatch up the land and home you sweated and possibly bled to maintain.
That’s the necessary evil the likes of Abdul or Brian Howey say we must tolerate. Since we have no ready alternatives, and since local government has no desire to shrink itself anymore than state or federal government, we are told that we should just shut up and pay the tax. We should pay the fee to be a serf on our political lord’s land. Does that sound like something of and for the People? Does that sound like a free society? Or does it sound like a feudal state? If our best advocates, such as the aforementioned Abdul, tell us there is no hope at present, what are we to think? Are we to continue tolerating this necessary evil that burdens us so? This tax on our very homes, the things we consider most sacred, the land and lodgings we raise our family on?
The answer to me is no. To hell with being told we must tolerate it. Call your legislator. Email him. Pester her. Trouble them. Let them know just how much you don’t like the threat of your home being taken away held like a gun to your head for you to pay Caesar’s tax. The only way to break the chains of property tax is to hammer at the manacles placed on us by government. If enough hammers fall, maybe we have a chance to suffer this necessary evil no longer.
posted by Rob Beck | 6:31 AM
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