Broaden the tax base by eliminating the damn senior tax freeze. Senior lobbyists from the Texas Silver Haired Legislature have been riding around the state for the past 18 months getting town after town to exempt seniors (over 65) from any increase in CITY property taxes for services they use every day. (The seniors are already exempt from SCHOOL property taxes.)
They have spawned a permanent intergenerational socialism that will increasingly narrow the tax base as the wave of boomers reach 65 in the coming decade. The senior leadership is mighty proud of this and notched their belt (web site) regularly at: http://www.netarrantseniors.net/Freeze%20Status%20in%20Tarrant%20County%20&%20Elsewhere.htm
Seniors are using clout to push for tax breaks
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/11899055.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Wed, Jun. 15, 2005 in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Cities divided by tax freeze
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/states/texas/northeast/9531151.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
August 29, 2004 in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sending the wrong message in Arlington
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Letter to Editor Jan 31, 2005
Arlington voters will decide Saturday whether one group of people -- seniors -- should have further increases in their city property taxes paid for by everybody else.
It's been said that our form of government is in danger when one group realizes that it can vote itself money from the public treasury at the expense of others. The senior tax freeze is a classic case of this.
It's also a sad commentary on seniors when they vote for local government to extract higher taxes from their children and grandchildren to pay their way. How can they face their own flesh and blood who are struggling to raise families and pay education costs?
With the $60,000 tax exemption that seniors receive in Arlington, those who live in small to midsize houses pay little in city taxes.
In fact, 22 percent of those currently receiving the over-65 exemption pay no city property taxes, and 17 percent pay less than $100 per year.
The net result is that a senior tax freeze amounts to a significant tax break for the wealthier homeowners.
Passing a tax freeze for seniors would have the unintended consequence of allowing seniors to vote for city improvements (police and fire protection, ambulance service, libraries, senior centers, roads, water and sewer) without facing any extra taxes.
This allows a steadily growing portion of the population to vote to raise taxes on everybody else while they enjoy the benefits.
I urge Arlington voters to think about the consequences of a senior tax freeze and the message that it will send to your children and grandchildren
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My wife and I are retired seniors, living in the northeast TX Piney Woods boonies of rural Cass County. 65% of our property tax burden is School Taxes!
(See my post #151 on this thread.)
Wait until you grow up, and start facing retirement. Your attitude toward those who preceded you in life (and provided the nation in which you live) will undergo an abrupt change.
Agreed. Seniors are a special interest group that wants to have different rules apply to them.