Amen to that! I will never forget reading about Texas property tax when we got ready to move here. The taxing entity creates their wish list, err...budget, then sets the tax rate to create enough revenue to fund it. Totally backward thinking in my book.
Of course businesses and citizens owe taxes which constitute the revenue of the nation. You know this to be true and it has nothing to do with feudalism. Taxes are the price of citizenship, chief. It's no better anywhere else and much worse in places. It's a constitutional obligation whether you like it or not. For a lot of things many take for granted. That only works with a balanced budget, and THAT is the problem. Unfunded mandates like "No Child" force us to raise taxes or borrow money, neither of which are palatable.
So what would be forward-thinking? Let the citizens decide how much property tax they want to pay? It would be zero, of course, resulting in no county services. Thats why you must add up what the Sheriff's deputies costs, what the Fire Department costs, what the sewer system costs, whether you have a library, or mow the fairgrounds, etc., etc. Then you know how much revenue is required. Then they have to set a sales tax and a property tax that achieves that. The key is to focus the politicians on the vital priorities and not allow them to get carried away building monuments to themselves, currying voter favor with "neighborhood" projects, or trying to build a bigger airport than the next county.
That is a far cry from what you said a few posts up. I know we owe taxes, but you said "Great for me, but not the best situation for creating revenues for the nation." The notion that our property exists to create revenue for the state is utterly rediculous. I agree, but my property is not entitled to the governement. The best way to accomplish an end to entitlement programs is to put the government on a strict diet. I would love to see a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget that allows some flex for things like national emergencies and declared wars.
The word is ridiculous but that ain't my notion at all. I had been talking about depreciation and that while it helped me personally, it lowers the tax income of the country, the lack of which is forcing the nation to borrow money. I believe in pay-as-we-go budgets and only wars and emergencies should force us into debt.
I serve up a golden pun and you come with that. Shoulda used italics. And your rental property having expenses does not cost the government tax revenue. Businesses are taxed on profits.
