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Tales From The Bottom Of The Ticket: Income Tax Replacing The Property Tax

by: Andrew Sylvia

Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 20:49:47 PM EDT
There was a woman I met while canvassing who had an interesting idea.

Institute an Income Tax, and anyone who owns property can send in a copy of their Income Tax payment and pay $0 for property taxes.

Would it work? Would property taxes stay at $0? I'll leave that for you all to decide.

I don't want to see an Income Tax, but the bottom line isn't which tax is in place, but reducing the amount that people have to pay while making sure public services are still provided.  
Andrew Sylvia :: Tales From The Bottom Of The Ticket: Income Tax Replacing The Property Tax
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Tales From The Bottom Of The Ticket: Income Tax Replacing The Property Tax | 3 comments
I think it DOES matter which taxes are in place (4.00 / 1)
Each has different side effects.

The property tax incents cities and towns to favor development with expensive building and few kids, while resisting workforce housing.

The income tax is managed at the state level and tends to mean less local control of tax revenues.

I tend to favor shifting from property tax to income tax. But whatever tax source we choose, $5000 raised from A will have different impacts than $5000 raised from B.

I Agree With Elwood... (4.00 / 1)
I agree with Elwood on this one.  An income tax based on ability to pay dedicated solely to education would be an excellent investment in our future.  Quality education is so important, and our next generations need to be competitive in the world economy.  Quality education means less crime, higher incomes for our residents, and a strong economy.  But we won't get there by continuing to rely on the property tax.  

Government has responsibilities to perform.  The property tax by its very nature should be to fund local government, and there are many obligations of local government in addition to education.  That's where an income tax on the state level would help out.  

However, the reality is that for a while at least we won't have significant tax reform.  It may take the better part of a decade to reform our tax structure, but being afraid to even talk about our options is not going to provide the investment in our future we need.  

Good Answer (0.00 / 0)
Thanks Jim,

I entirely agree with your last paragraph, that's why I'm against "The Pledge" and urge other candidates not to take it, especially Democrats (Governor Lynch took it and Grover Norquist attacked him anyway).

Like I said above, I don't want to see an Income Tax or any new tax if we can avoid it, but we may need one. I support finding whatever works, not one dogmatic view or another.

However, I'm more interested in everyone else's opinion than my own here. We're going to need a consensus to make a feasible fiscal policy for the future, and I see my role as trying to shepherd that consensus.

Alright, off to canvassing!

[ Parent ]
Tales From The Bottom Of The Ticket: Income Tax Replacing The Property Tax | 3 comments
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