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.
EMBRACE THE SUCK......................
Commie libs always fall for their ‘RAT “massas” rants that only Republicans, TEA Party types and conservatives will have to pay taxes. Liberals sure aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.
Uh, that was you in the voting booth, knucklehead!
Texas has no state income tax so the municipalities gotta make it up somehow.
If she’d like to comfort herself she can sit down and figure out how much she’s saving by just having a higher property tax rate as opposed to a 7% income tax rate or whatever.
Not that I don’t think the property tax should be abolished...it should, on Homestead property at least.
Liberals always think that “other people” will have to pay for the things they vote for. It is always a surprise to them when reality slaps them up side the head.
Now, where did I put my tiny violin.....
Remember the single mom living in a motel room with her 14 kids shouting that “somebody has to take responsibility for these kids”. Same mindset.
Where’s that miniature violin at?
Somebody’s gotta make room for all the Californians moving in.
Gretchen Gardner ... you’re it.
I agree that taxes on the homestead should be abolished. As long as the government can take your property for taxes you don’t really own it.
I have contended for a long time that we should get rid of the federal income tax withholding. Make everyone write a check every quarter to the federal government for their income tax liability. Kind of like filling the tank up on the family soccer bus every 3 days with $4 a gallon gas.
Gretchen ought to move to Lampassas. Then, she can vote for all of those goodies in that fair city and watch her property taxes go up once again. Some people are beyond stupid.
‘I voted for every perk and benefit and now I need the American public to bail me out because I made bad decisions, boo hoo hoo’
awww, did the little piggy fall down in its own mud and can’t get up?
i.e. research paid for by Realtor lobbies that shows that lowering property taxes will help businesses associated with property but most likely leaves out what will happen to the retail sector.
At least a sales tax would get some more contributions from illegals.
The Republican Establishment are just as complicit as the Democrats in the super-high property tax rates in Texas. The Republicans have blocked appraisal caps - the ONE easy method to force taxing entities to actually vote for higher taxes if they want more money (now they sit back and watch revenue come in as property values soar).
There is actually only ONE PERSON who has really stuck his neck out to put an end to that, and that is Dan Patrick (who’s now the favorite for Lt. Gov, where he can actually do something about it) - and this lady probably DESPISES him more than any other politician because (A) he’s a Republican, and (B) because he’s against open borders.
She has gotten EVERYTHING she deserves, given her attitude.
The problem is, they can raise your taxes by increasing the value of your house just about anytime they want to. Of course, you can try to fight it, but it takes a lot of time and effort, and your chance of success is iffy.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
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