Can anyone tell me why it is more important to grant across the board property tax reductions to all taxpayers than to maximize the relief given to those most severely affected?
It would be nice to give everyone a tax break. But to say it is imperitive to give a 10% property tax reduction to someone earning $150,000 while limiting the reduction to 20% for those making $25,000 reveals the utterly oblivious understanding those proponents have of the real issue here.
If these people understood the concept of tax justice as the issue, they would be not be suggesting distributing the limited money available to those in least need of it. They seem to fail to remotely understand that equity and fairness are even an issue, let alone the issue.
Those in the bottom 20% of taxpayers pay almost triple the percent of their income in property taxes as compared to the top 20%. This fact proves there is an inherent inequity built into the property tax. Across the board reductions will not change that formula. Therefore, addressing that inequity must be the starting point in dealing with the property tax issue.
It is obvious that the only way to deal with bringing true relief to those in most dire need of it is to find an alternative to the property tax. Pumping money in without dealing with its structurally built in bias against low and no income taxpayers will only result in superficial and quickly passing relief.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Leading the way...to being broke
Leading the way but not to something good.
A recent study for 2005 has revealed that six of the top ten counties in the nation (yes, the nation) with the highest property taxes are in New Jersey.
Hunterdon, Bergen, and Essex are in the top five. Morris, Somerset and Union are 7th, 8th and 10th.
I feel better. My county, Monmouth, is all the way down at 13th. Woo hoo.
Meanwhile, neither Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida nor Arizona have a single county in the top fifty.
Can there really be any wonder why there is an exodus from N.J. to these states?
A recent study for 2005 has revealed that six of the top ten counties in the nation (yes, the nation) with the highest property taxes are in New Jersey.
Hunterdon, Bergen, and Essex are in the top five. Morris, Somerset and Union are 7th, 8th and 10th.
I feel better. My county, Monmouth, is all the way down at 13th. Woo hoo.
Meanwhile, neither Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida nor Arizona have a single county in the top fifty.
Can there really be any wonder why there is an exodus from N.J. to these states?
The Asbury Park Press misguided
Here is my most recent letter to the APP.
The Press has done a nice job of keeping the property tax discussion under the microscope of public awareness. The taxpaying public owes it many thanks.
In its editorials, it has correctly analyzed the shortcomings and benefits of many of the cost savings proposals. It has tried to focus on state legislator’s efforts or lack thereof. It has rightly ruled out tax increases as a full or partial solution. What it has wrongly done is summarily rule out shifting of the tax burden.
The Press, along with most of the major players in this quest to fix the property tax dilemma, forgets the fundamental reason the outcry against property taxes has reached a crescendo. It is because they are unfair.
Everyone hates to pay taxes. But most are not averse to paying their fair share. But the property tax burden is inordinately skewed in favor of those with upper incomes and against those in lower brackets.
Shifting the tax burden so it is more equitably distributed is what we need to make the singular and major focus of this process. Efforts to find cost savings are also critical and a basic part of the solution. But bringing fairness to how government services are funded by taxpayers is a moral imperative of the first order.
Maintaining the status quo by ruling out shifting the present unfair property tax to a more broad-based tax such as the income tax precludes addressing the very essence of what our nation was founded for: Equal justice for all. The property tax is not just because it is not fair.
Visit my website dedicated to ending the property tax: http://EndPT.org
The Press has done a nice job of keeping the property tax discussion under the microscope of public awareness. The taxpaying public owes it many thanks.
In its editorials, it has correctly analyzed the shortcomings and benefits of many of the cost savings proposals. It has tried to focus on state legislator’s efforts or lack thereof. It has rightly ruled out tax increases as a full or partial solution. What it has wrongly done is summarily rule out shifting of the tax burden.
The Press, along with most of the major players in this quest to fix the property tax dilemma, forgets the fundamental reason the outcry against property taxes has reached a crescendo. It is because they are unfair.
Everyone hates to pay taxes. But most are not averse to paying their fair share. But the property tax burden is inordinately skewed in favor of those with upper incomes and against those in lower brackets.
Shifting the tax burden so it is more equitably distributed is what we need to make the singular and major focus of this process. Efforts to find cost savings are also critical and a basic part of the solution. But bringing fairness to how government services are funded by taxpayers is a moral imperative of the first order.
Maintaining the status quo by ruling out shifting the present unfair property tax to a more broad-based tax such as the income tax precludes addressing the very essence of what our nation was founded for: Equal justice for all. The property tax is not just because it is not fair.
Visit my website dedicated to ending the property tax: http://EndPT.org
Grand pre-opening preview
Visit my website dedicated to ending the property tax:
http://EndPT.org
It is not completely finished, so please forgive typos, grammar and any other errors.
http://EndPT.org
It is not completely finished, so please forgive typos, grammar and any other errors.
We have met the enemy and ....
The Cato Institute has done a study. It looks at how informed the voter really is.
We are in deep trouble. Platitudes and demogoguery work because we have a nation ruled by uninformed voters who do not take the time to think any deeper than a headline.
Follow the link to read the results. Try not to get too depressed.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2372
We are in deep trouble. Platitudes and demogoguery work because we have a nation ruled by uninformed voters who do not take the time to think any deeper than a headline.
Follow the link to read the results. Try not to get too depressed.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2372
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)