Texas Tax Revolt
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Will the Texas property tax revolt (see quote below) play out in St. Croix County? Think about it, any new referendums have the makings of failure. The perfect storm not present in previous referendums is higher interest rates, higher gasoline and heating fuel prices, and pressure on wages and medical benefits.
Witness the Doboy/Bosh four week strike in December. The Machinist Union settled for a five percent pay cut the first year and a wage freeze the second and third years, and–the most galling of all–changes in seniority. Seniority is the foundation of unionism and one of the worst givebacks a union can suffer. It’s tatamount to union busting.
Taken together, these factors spread uneasiness in economic well-being and move increases in taxes (especially property taxes) to the forefront. Regardless of the outcome of today’s school board elections, school boards will have to consider the taxpayer in any school spending, not just all the neat new buildings and staff positions boards can think up.
From the 4/4/06 Wall Street Journal online editorial:
If Republican politicos are wondering how they can crawl back into the good graces of the electorate, they might want to study the primary results from last month deep in the heart of Texas.
In one high-profile GOP primary for a state senate seat in Houston, radio personality Dan Patrick sent shock waves through the political establishment by promising serious property tax relief. He won a 69% rout over three elected officials seeking higher office. Also on the primary ballot was an initiative asking voters whether they support a directive to all GOP officeholders to push a spending and tax limitation measure. It won with 89.9% of the Republican vote.
Across the country, the hottest money issue at the state and local level is property taxes. Tax collectors are reaping giant windfalls from the national housing boom, as the average property tax on an American home has climbed to just shy of $3,000 a year. The National Taxpayers Union reports that Texas is one of at least 20 states — including Arizona, Idaho, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — where homeowners are rebelling against soaring assessments that in some cases are taxing people out of their homes. The discontent is reminiscent of the anxiety that led to California’s famous Proposition 13 property tax cut 27 years ago……
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“Progressives” call the property tax fair and equitable. Well, the fact of the matter is that such language is nothing but Orwellian double speak. There is nothing equitable at all about taxing or taking ones private property that was purchased with money that had already been taxed numerous times to pay for the education of someone elses child – it’s nothing more than legalized theft.
Clearly, functioning municipalities need revenue to support essential services but there are other ways to raise needed revenues to replace property taxes – such as use based revenue (we already do this with water, sewer, etc). But the first place you look are to services that can be provided by the private sector that are currently being provided by the government and funded through property taxes. First and foremost, get rid of the government monopoly in education. That move right there would solve a myriad of problems and reduce property taxes dramatically in the long run – it would also remove most of the divisiveness.
The only reason you see heated school board races today is due to the property tax as the funding mechanism for a government monopoly over education. The answers are simple, but the process to get it done will require politician with guts and a willingness to do the right thing – the sooner, the better.
Maybe what we have in Texas is a little smoke and some day maybe it will erupt into a fire. However I don’t expect to see it before I die on my official IRS death date of October 19, 2019.
I’ll continue to fight for it though for my grandchildren.