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Roger Dressler's avatar

Thanks for this article.

What I like about property taxes is that they are geographic. Unlike sales or income taxes, property taxes are tied to where we live with great precision. Perfect for local government services that address our home areas.

What I don’t like is that they are based on my home’s value. That seems to bear little relevance to the cost of services—fire, police, roads, schools, etc. And the fact the real estate values ebb and flow on their own market dynamics unrelated to costs of services, the revenues do not stay in sync with budgets, causing excesses or shortfalls over time, both of which are problematic.

There must be a metric that better aligns the cost of the services rendered with the county’s inhabitants. How about a “household” tax weighted by the number of occupants? No more need to assess property values. There can still be a homestead exemption so that folks with multiple homes pay less for their primary residence than the others.

--Roger

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