Posted on 06/12/2012 12:08:38 AM PDT by quesney
BISMARCK, N.D. — Since Californians shrank their property taxes more than three decades ago by passing Proposition 13, people around the nation have echoed their dismay over such levies, putting forth plans to even them, simplify them, cap them, slash them. In an election here on Tuesday, residents of North Dakota will consider a measure that reaches far beyond any of that — one that abolishes the property tax entirely.
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Jim Wilson/The New York Times A group of Edgeley residents, including Nicole Gibson, who held a “Vote No on Measure 2” sign, gathered after the debate. “I would like to be able to know that my home, no matter what happens to my income or my life, is not going to be taken away from me because I can’t pay a tax,” said Susan Beehler, one in a group of North Dakotans who have pressed for an amendment to the state’s Constitution to end the property tax. They argue that the tax is unpredictable, inconsistent, counter to the concept of property ownership and needless in a state that, thanks in part to wildly successful oil drilling, finds itself in the rare circumstance of carrying budget reserves.
“When,” Ms. Beehler asked, “did we come to believe that government should get rich and we should get poor?”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ABSOLUTELY. I own my home free and clear...wait no I don't, I have to pay taxes on it every year so I'm actually living with really cheap rent.
I agree with you redfreedom.
I grew up smack in the middle of the Bakken Zone.
The scoundrels in Bismarck (and that includes many of the Republicans, right up to and including the governor) are so awash in money that they are beginning to think and act like sheiks: buy, spend, build, promise, dream, party hearty.
If voters keep the property tax (which they probably will, mostly for understandable reasons), then the state and city leaders ought to start windfalling MORE of the oil dollars and devote the rest to necessary and sensible improvements (which they almost certainly won’t).
Bodes ill for the day when the boom goes bust, which they always—ALWAYS—do.
Exactly. You can never own real property -- you can only lease it from the government.
It varied from state to state. In some places, it was simply having property or meeting a set amount of proclamation money. In others, it was paying state taxes of some kind. There were often stricter requirements for voting for the upper house of each state’s legislature.
In any event, by 1790, property requirements were non-enforced in the vast majority of states, at least for the lower house of the legislature.
The prairie shale-oil operations were absolutely booming back during the oil-embargo. Within 3 years, the entire industry virtually disappeared. The situation for North Dakota could easily change overnight.
Replace the property tax with user fees for government functions. Nobody should have to pay for what they don't use.
based on what I’ve read:
“Apr 29, 2012 – But many aren’t prepared for the hardships of life on the plains: the cold, the wind, the monotony. ... Within two weeks of arriving in North Dakota last July, Kevin ... Industry officials predict that the oil boom will last at least 10 to 15 years, ... “
Hopefully the money will continue to roll into N. Dakota for a while.
” I have a good friend who owns his home outright. It’s a small mother/daughter split-level type in a CRAPPY neighborhood - Hempstead, NY.
Though it’s paid off, he still gets to pay nearly $1,500 per month in property tax “
That is INSANE!!
“Don’t you have tax abatement programs for situations like the widow?”
Oh, yeah. A whopping 10%.
With a discount like that, her payments would be reduced from $500 per month all the way down to only $450 per month. She should be eternally grateful to her magnanimous masters for such grace.
/s
North Dakota already is a “right to work” state, and has been for decades.
The oil money has already been dedicated for other purposes, and is desperately needed for infrastructure, housing for all the new hires.
The measure only requires the state legislature to pay money back to the political subdivisions for “required” expenses. Certain local costs, such as snow removal, etc., are NOT considered “required” legal costs that the state has to fund.
And, contrary to other parts of the country, public sector wages and pensions in ND are at or below private sector wages. The oil boom has made pay, especially in western ND, skyrocket.
Careful Kearny, you’ve already crossed the line of “Willing to trade liberty for security” and are running headlong into, “I have a right to other people’s money, for the widows, of course,” territory.
May your chains lay lightly upon you, and may you speedily realize your error.
Property taxes are demonic, ungodly methods of oppression, whether you like them or not. No Government service should occur that is not directly paid for by the person receiving the service. None. Postage at a post office, toll roads or gasoline taxes, etc. etc.
HOORAY! A TRUE conservative (there are others, but your post blatantly gives you away, no apologies, and right to the point!) I replied before I saw your post. But you hit the nail right on the head.
People are so used to the idea of the nanny state that their brains have turned to mush. Gut EVERYTHING. Return to a user fee (duty, fee, excise) system. We can police ourselves, that’s why we have the 2nd amendment and the right of citizen’s arrest. Just because we (as a society) have been indoctrinated to worship at the feet of the all powerful state, doesn’t mean we’re meant to. The Constitution (including amendments) is mere PAGES long. The Founding Fathers are rolling in their graves with the level of apathy our people have achieved and the amount of coddling people think they deserve.
Remove the worthless regulation and taxation, and the U.S. would boom, AGAIN. You can tell the ignorant “city-folk” because they’ve never witnessed reality. People just like animals can only be harvested/sheared so much. Shear a sheep in winter, it dies. Take too much honey from a bee, they die. Too much milk from a nursing animal, and the babies die. The goose has no more golden eggs, and you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.
We haven’t had an excess for decades, and have been running a huge deficit for a century. People MUST wean themselves off of other people’s money.
I lived in an apartment for years. I was fortunate enough to see the itemization of my entire month’s rent, including property tax. If you rent from someone who has to up your rent to pay a property tax, then in a competitive market, you either receive the benefit of a smaller expense of maintaining a rental, or property ownership becomes more affordable. Oh yeah, depending on the tax structure, the cost of business overhead and thus business and thereby goods and services goes down. EVERYONE benefits when property taxes are removed.
“... if oil revenues falter?”
And if we take this country back in Nov., and start domestic oil production, North Dakota will not be as well of as it is today.
“When I got a reevaluation and the value was lowered they raised the multiplier to make up of the county’s lost revenues.”
What do you do when you live in the part of a county that they won’t lower the assessments cause there are no sales? Yes part of Pasco has dropped 70%, but not the rural areas. Then they make up the difference with the multiplier and me and my neighbors pay double.
Ah, but if you’re going to indoctrinate a new generation of serfs into socialism, you must do it, using a socialist system.
EVERYONE benefits when property taxes are removed.
There is a fundamental indoctrinated thinking issue in people today, as they have been brainwashed into thinking “You need Government.” NO, we don’t. And if people want some Government, that’s fine, they should be willing to pay for it entirely out of their own pockets. I once was taught a lesson that talked about absolutes. The instructor said, “If you had an ice cream cone that had a big piece of [feces] on top, would you want it? No? What if you just scraped that off, or nibbled around the edges? Would that be ok?” That’s the problem we have, people kept nibbling around the edges until the chowed down on the mushy center. Now people say, well, I don’t want the whole feces cone, but make sure mine has sprinkles. Ridiculous!
Private roads would work as some do in Texas now. Private road, Private hospitals, private schools. Who says that the government should do all these (and thousands of other things they are trying to do)? Who , marxists that's who.The difference between socialism and capitalism is private ownership. The government owns your property with property taxes. The only taxes allowed should be sales taxes and tariffs on china products and tariffs on other imports. Property taxes are an abomination, slavery , and socialism/Marxism.
Government at all levels is too big and does( LOL tries to do ) too many things. Government should only do things that absolutely cannot be done by the private sector. Roads, charities, hospitals, Schools and many other things the governments do should be done by private businesses . Government leads to at best corruption and it doesn't work for 99% of the things it does.
Get rid of 99% of state , local and federal departments and agencies: the U.S.A then would be a million times better off. Who needs the EPA, TSA, dept of education, government schools, HHS, HUD, dept of energy etc. etc. and their local and state counterparts? No one that's who.
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