Comments (11)

• M E Hoffer

  Mr. DiLorenzo,

  Fine Sir, Have you overlooked the AMT? Many "middle-class" taxpayers have been ensnared by that '70s era "trap" set for the "Rich". Why? Debasement of the U$D, aka "Inflation", alone, and for no other reason.

  Published: June 8, 2006 8:39 AM

• F L. Light

  1
  Sans modest sanity, the state has no
  Restraint, as furious taxes hotter grow.

  2
  The state, impugning sanity, would make
  Us mad and mortal taxes undertake.

  3
  The state, not leaving peace alone, incensed
  Taxation as a punishment enhanced.

  4
  The state without our will asseverates
  Statistics in pursuit of higher rates.

  ©2006 F L Light

  Published: June 8, 2006 10:31 AM

• Curt Howland

  Prop 13, the one truly successful effort to roll back property taxes to "no more than 1%", doesn't work very well either.
  

  Ya see, "bond measures" aren't included in the tax. So every school tax increase, every improvement tax increase, has been listed either as a "levy", or as a "bond issue".
  

  I own property in California. Every year, the county increases my "property value" the maximum allowable percentage. In the 12 years I've owned the property, the "value" in terms of tax has increased more than $100,000. So much for "single owner, low miles."
  

  So sure the "property" is only taxed at 1%, but that is 1% of what they've been able to jack it up to so far. Include the bonds and special levies, and it's up over 2.5% of the escalated "value".
  

  One of the reasons that lawyers do so well in government is that language is their tool. Twisting words to mean something other than what everyone else knows they mean is their stock in trade.
  

  All that said, if I ever do get to New Hampshire with the Free State Project, I'm going to buy a tiny house in a bad neighborhood. As low a "property value" as I can stand. There may be no income tax in NH, but they still fund their bloated system (even though it's not as bloated as everywhere else) through "property taxes".
  

  Where I live now, even the broken down, tiny utility trailer that I bought mail-order 18 years ago would be taxed as property if I registered it in this state. That's right, even though it's not road worthy, they still want to tax it as "property". Shhhhh! Don't tell them I have a computer worth 10 times what that trailer cost!

  Published: June 8, 2006 1:13 PM

• Angelo

  Please, Mr. DiLorenzo is being ridiculous. We shouldn't be kicking politicians out of office for the fun of it. We should be tarring and feathering them for that reason.

  Published: June 8, 2006 3:48 PM

• Allen Young

  06/09/06am
  More attention to the reason taxes are so high, please.
  Because pandering legislators authorize wasteful,
  harmful spending.
  To make this more apparent to taxpayers, all withholding should be stopped. Instead, each payday each taxpayer has to write a check to the IRS, address an envelope, and mail it. The army of nasty IRS enforcers to pursue the tardy.
  Soon taxpayers will ask: What is my money being spent for? Is it something I have any interest in?
  Taxes never really are the "problem". Instead it is spending. The sooner that is made plain, the better.

  Allen Young, Houston

  Published: June 9, 2006 9:00 AM

• Dan Ust

  Is there any hope of suggesting indexing taxes to inflation on a local and state level? At least, that might keep the beast at bay for little while...

  Published: June 10, 2006 8:12 AM

• Lois Kaneshiki

  I love the term "tax gouging." We constantly hear about "evil corporate price gouging," even though corporations have no monopolistic or coercive means of forcing consumers to buy their products, unlike governments.

  I hope it's ok if I use your term?

  Published: June 10, 2006 12:22 PM

• Jack O. Ludwick

  Our local appraisers also vote their own payraises. Evry year property appraisals increase. It is a racket and robbery.

  Published: June 16, 2006 9:00 AM

• Pike

  I am from Maryland.

  Thank Doctor for reminding me and giving me another reason why I am allergic to Maryland since end of spring. I told my mother I can't go back to Maryland because I am allergic to the state [Exception is for emergency, of course]

  I thought the Governor Elhrich will be good but nah, he is not. I should have known that any state that is next to DC is bond to be corrupted by the corruptive rays sent by the DC, the center of the corruption.

  NH should finance itself, as a start, through sales tax and fees for services, thus abolishing the property tax. Property tax violates property right by stating the property owners truly do not own the property but rent them out from the state by paying property tax as a rent. Indeed we all are serfs in USA.

  Pike
  Refugee in New York for graduate study
  Fleeing from Maryland

  Published: June 16, 2006 10:44 PM

• John Hendrickson

  I liked the last comment about not really owning one's home. It is true. We are all renters from the locality. Fail to pay your property taxes and you will be evicted in favor of one who agrees to keep up the rent.

  Here is an article I wrote on the subject:

  January 29, 2003

  To the Editor:

  The American Dream. What is it? Owning one’s own home. Those without one pine over whether they will one day be able to achieve such. Those who begin the process often work two jobs or ungodly hours to afford one. People strive, sweat and sacrifice a several decades of their lifetime just so they can own their home. Most everyone does this through borrowing. So, in the end, they often pay out fifty, one hundred, even two hundred percent more than the original price. It is a long, arduous and costly route hard working Americans travel, making the single largest purchase of their lives. Just to own their home. Just to live the American Dream.

  Why do they bother? What is the reason people are willing to sacrifice so much? Is it materialism? Hardly. The investment value? A secondary reason, if at all. As security in the present as well as in their old age? That is one major motive which causes people to take on such a daunting challenge.

  Naive as it may sound, I wanted to own my home for the security it would give in my retirement years. I foolishly thought that purchasing a home was like anything else one buys. After it is paid for it belongs to you. And as long as you maintain it, it will serve its purpose, and you own it.

  Foolish? Yes. For no one told me about property taxes. No one told me you don’t really own your home, you are renting it from your town. Fail to pay your taxes and you will be evicted. Evicted, regardless of whether you sweat and slaved all one’s life to own that home.

  But this retirement-years horror story is not limited to then. Unlike any other tax which requires you to earn or spend something before you are obligated to pay the tax, property taxes are due merely because you “own� property. You might be unemployed. You might be disabled. You might be too old to work and on a very limited and virtually fixed income. The state does not care. Pay up, it says. Pay or else move out so we can sell your home to someone who can pay. This oppressive situation begins the minute you sign those papers to take “possession.� There is no other tax nor obligation we have that is like this.

  Home ownership is a myth. It is not true. It is not real. We are all renters from the state. The only way to rectify this present day fable is to eliminate the property tax. All the modification, tinkering, etc. to lessen its onerous nature will not change the facts. If we are subject to forfeiture of our homes for not paying a tax that has nothing to do with spending or earning an income then we do not own that property, we are renters. The rent is called the Property Tax.

  Only home owners (and renters who realize their rents include the “owner’s� property tax) can change this present injustice. It is up to them to write their senator and assemblymen that the jig is up and the property tax must be eliminated. Otherwise supposed benefits the American Dream of home ownership provides can only be believed through self-delusion, through believing a myth.

  
  

  Published: June 26, 2006 2:43 PM

• Joe Ramirez

  Mr. DiLorenzo,

  Thank you for an informative article. When will the remanant of libreals wake up and resist the fedgoons.

  Why not resist taxation? If enough folks ceased from paying property taxes or income taxes could big brother arrest or seize everyone or their individual properties. Like a former professor of mine once said being a fellow paleolibertarian, "If 10% if good enough for God [The Triune SOverign Creator] then it should be good enough for the government". People visit Freds M-14 site and Javelin-press.com if your'e serious about liberty.

  Published: June 29, 2006 9:31 AM