[kearnyirish2]

As a resident of a state with probably the highest property taxes in the nation (NJ), I’ll tell you some reasons not to eliminate property taxes. Here in NJ, they pay for your municipal employees; in other states all of the money is put in a common pot at the state or county level. In those models, your taxes are re-distributed beyond your municipality, and your vote is much more diluted. The reason Newark, Camden, and Paterson NJ all laid off so many employees is BECAUSE we have property taxes; their residents hadn’t been paying for their services for decades, with “state aid” (our money) picking up the tab. When that aid dried up, they couldn’t loot from those areas where people get out of bed each morning and go to work (hence the layoffs).

In the end, what many people pay from property taxes will simply be paid from another source anyway (state income tax, for example); property owners lose a lot of control when that happens. Nothing is free.

[SandwicheGuy]

In the end, what many people pay from property taxes will simply be paid from another source anyway (state income tax, for example); property owners lose a lot of control when that happens. Nothing is free.

That makes absolutely no sense. A pox on property taxes.

[sr4402]

I know Widows who have lost their homes when they are unable to pay the Property Tax.

Remember: "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress". And distress to Widows is not a good idea before God.

[ScottfromNJ]

“The reason Newark, Camden, and Paterson NJ all laid off so many employees is BECAUSE we have property taxes; their residents hadn’t been paying for their services for decades, with “state aid” (our money) picking up the tab.”

There’s some sort of formula here in NJ that counties use to divert a portion of local property taxes from so called “affluent” towns to so called “poorer” ones. Our mayor once claimed that as the reason why property taxes were kept so high in my town, to make up the difference. Of course that doesn’t mean the poor towns spend their extra money wisely.

[Olog-hai]

I lived in a NJ city for eighteen years (Elizabeth), and from my experience, all that those high taxes go towards paying is the bloated salaries of the municipal politicians who vote themselves pay raises sometimes on an annual basis. And oh yeah, that ridiculous welfare system that turned formerly beautiful cities into hellhole slums, something that tearing down projects and replacing them with townhouses was not able to reverse. Never mind a transit operator whose reach is state-wide, and who went on a ridiculous spending spree under former governor Corzine, buying buses and trains (especially the latter) to replace vehicles that had only reached the halfway point of their service life (while reneging on service expansions at the same time).

It was the unconscionably-high property tax that was a primary impetus for people and businesses to move out of that state. Don’t buy the garbage out of the liberal politicians there. The People’s Republic of New Jersey is teetering on the edge.