Property Tax

[Vern Humphrey]

My property taxes are $1,200 on 160 acres and a five bedroom house. My brother lived in Texas, and when I told him that, he cried.

[Allen]

My property taxes are $1,200 on 160 acres and a five bedroom house. My brother lived in Texas, and when I told him that, he cried.

That's my point. You and I know where this money is going but how do politicians (at any level of government) explain it?

Nothing bought with taxed dollars should be continued to be taxed. It's like buying a vacuum cleaner (with taxed dollars) and then having to pay taxes to own it.

[Allen]

After all this new addition my property taxes went up $30.00 and I am not complaining.

Welcome back again.

Not complaining but why not? What did the gov't do to justify the extra $30? You elected on your own to add on using your money that you pay taxes on. Any labor you may have bought from a licensed contractor was taxed as well.

Are you more apt to call the police now? Would it cost more for the fire dept to extinguish a fire now? Have you added extra kids to the public school system? That's all the politicians can come up with for the purpose of prop taxes.

Did the addition make your property value go up? Most probably but how does that benefit you while you are living there? When or if sold the price will be higher and whoever buys it will pay more with more taxed dollars. Money you receive will be taxed as well.

[S.A. Boggs]

On my 4,000 square foot cabin and modest acreage we pay $180.00 school tax, due to having the Ohio homestead exemption and retirement income little else. Our property was just recently redone, hence the increase in school tax. I could get free dog tags for my two service buddies, but I buy tags anyway to help out our no kill shelter. God has provided much for me, more then I deserve so no squawk on what I do need to spend.
In the home stretch on finishing the interior of the cabin has taken up some of my time. Also, learning to be a better cook and getting the proper equipment. I love French cooking and learning to do better. All of my cooking is done from scratch, no mixes. Just took deliver on our years' worth of pork and beef, already had the poultry. I order and pay a year in advance to get what I want at a reasonable price and HOW I WANT THE MEAT PROCESSED. The meat is raised/processed by my Amish friends, one who does it commercially for a select few "English" and other breather. Pork was .59 per pound and beef was $4.30/lb. I always buy a whole pig/steer, which is pasture grown and lives a good life. I buy 15 dozen eggs per month, and they go good with the bacon.
Sam

[Allen]

Be careful what you state. You may get taxed for cooking.

Back to property tax, why tax property owners for public school admission? I mean, what's the relationship and why should someone who owns 4000 acres pay more than someone who has 1/4 acre? Does the person with 4000 acres grow kids to pack into the schools?

The school system should be based upon usury. The more kids you have the more you pay for their education. Some people have no kids at all.

Remember, I pay property taxes on minerals under the ground in Texas. The people who own the land pay property taxes on the land. I don't live in TX and have never used their police, fire dept or schools. If any minerals (oil) is pumped out I pay taxes on it as income. Point is, why am I paying these taxes in TX? What's the justification or excuse?

[Johnny P]

Texas has no income tax unless they have recently changed. Have a good friend that lives in Rockwall, and said while no income tax they make it up on property tax.

[oscars]

I pay $5000 a year property tax on a house assessed at $500,000 in central Maryland. A colleague of mine pays $10,000 a year for a similarly assessed house in College Station, Texas. Both of use fund, what we consider, very good school systems. Now, back to Arkansas. The very public high school my kids graduated from score 100 points higher than Haas Hall charter schools in Bentonville and Fayettville, Arkansas, which are, supposedly, selective admissions with the highest SAT scores in Arkansas. Moral of the story, you get what you pay for.

[Allen]

I pay $5000 a year property tax on a house assessed at $500,000 in central Maryland. A colleague of mine pays $10,000 a year for a similarly assessed house in College Station, Texas. Both of use fund, what we consider, very good school systems. Now, back to Arkansas. The very public high school my kids graduated from score 100 points higher than Haas Hall charter schools in Bentonville and Fayettville, Arkansas, which are, supposedly, selective admissions with the highest SAT scores in Arkansas. Moral of the story, you get what you pay for.

But why tax your property for school money? As said before, some pay a lot, some pay nothing. Those who pay nothing usually have the most kids in school.

[bruce]

Re: Tax, i.e., school, etc. It is what it is. The overwhelming vast majority of people agree to this arrangement by their vote for a particular candidate/party. Ours is a modified democracy. At the local level we vote for those who decide what will be done about fire, police, streets, schools, hospitals, parks, etc. Some folks want items not included in the budget. Some want more of items already on the budget. Some ... want less. Personally, I do not want to live in a community with the bare minimum of govt. services. My wife and I have two homes. Consider that we pay a fair amount. When we retired, we qualified for one homestead exemption. That's cool. We have two grown daughters. We have four grandchildren. We want them to have access to good pre-K, Kindergarten and of course elementary and secondary schools. We want good fire and police service, roads, etc. None of this is free. Have never made a fire call. Have never made a police call. Never needed to. Right down the street, neighbors have had need of the fire and police. We all pay for just such needs. About the best plan possible. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

[Allen]

Re: Tax, i.e., school, etc. It is what it is. The overwhelming vast majority of people agree to this arrangement by their vote for a particular candidate/party.

I agree with you Bruce but we never get a choice of a candidate who opposes property tax. Most never mention it, even wanting to reduce prop tax.

Schools, hospitals, fire depts and police depts have all become big businesses in large cities due to all the windfall tax money given to them.

Point is. We need a different form of taxation. Stop taxing what we already own and paid for with taxed dollars. Tax other items that would distribute $ more fairly and equally. Better yet reduce all taxes and reduce big government at all levels.

Property tax is just another form of welfare. Those that have bought/worked for/inherited have to pay for those who have done nothing, own nothing, will not work, will not buy, and tend to be the ones overloading our resources.