Posted on 06/11/2012 2:27:22 PM PDT by Libloather
Will North Dakota be the first state to end property taxes?
By Josh Goodman
Associated Press
Posted: Jun 11, 2012, 10:29 am
WASHINGTON North Dakota voters on Tuesday will decide the fate of a ballot initiative that would make the state the first in the country to end property taxes.
If any state is going to take such a dramatic step, North Dakota would seem to be a likely candidate. North Dakota is generally a conservative state, and fiscal conservatives generally support lower taxes. The state is also experiencing a surge in tax revenue unrivaled elsewhere. The property tax is often described as the least popular of the taxes that fund state and local government.
Yet even those ingredients dont appear as though they will be enough. The reason why is that, regardless of what interest or what party they represent, the powers-that-be in North Dakota have a preference for caution. That same preference exists in other states, which is why the most sweeping ballot measures to change or limit government have tended to fail lately.
Supporting the end of the property tax are a small group of amateur activists led by Charlene Nelson, a stay-at-home mom from Harmony Township in Casselton, North Dakota who homeschools her three boys. Nelson says shes put 13,000 miles on her car since February traveling the state in support of Measure 2. Her husband just changed the oil for the fourth time.
(Excerpt) Read more at postbulletin.com ...
Compared to the freeloaders - a small group of professional activists.
Of course, all the public gubmint unions are opposed to this.
Watch for a stampede because of a mass exodus from Minnesota.
Rush says they don’t have the balls. I agree.
North Dakota is part of the Spine of America. North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Property tax make property ownership impossible since you essentially are renting from the county. If you don’t pay the rent, the property is returned to the county and sold to others for the back rent.
If you don't pay up, force will be used against you to ensure that you do. In my book, this means you don't own the property.
How is that so? You still buy and sell real estate properties, there are still deeds for ownership.
From what I read ND had surplus revenues so they don't depend on property tax to provide citizens services. ??? (Maybe I got the Measure 2 wrong.)
Elimination of it definitely will attract more citizens and businesses to relocate to their state.
Nobody owns any property, everyone rents from the county. Don’t pay and they evict your ass.
For a second there I thought this might be a story about the Obama Administration.
You are exactly right.
Rural population fears loss of services and the swells in the bigger towns like having somebody else’s money to spend.
No wonder! Unless a person is super wealthy, it forces him either to become a working farmer or cattleman, so that he can afford the taxes on his spread. Or to forgo the dream of ever owning a spread in the first place and moving into some urban ghetto where the government and other busybodies can keep an eye on him. The dream that was America really died with the institution of the property tax. It makes everyone an indentured servant of the state.
Yup. It’s criminal. There are other ways to raise revenue than to drive folks from their homes. No government should be able to tax you out of your house (or other property/wealth, for that matter). Personally, I’m definitely taxed enough ... however ... given the choice, I would pay higher income tax to get rid of the property tax. That way, when I’m no longer earning, I don’t have to fear being homeless thanks to my ‘benevolent’ government.
“Will North Dakota be the first state to end property taxes?
Watch for a stampede because of a mass exodus from Minnesota.”
Count me as a MN resident that would highly consider such a move.
Its much easier to raise someone else’s taxes than your own, and property taxation if flat and fair.
Lower the millage rates, but don't get rid of them.
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