Should property taxes be abolished?

[Bo]

No

[Derek]

Yes I am in favor of abolishing all taxes and funding the government with user fees and a 23% VAT which isn't popular and shouldn't be until our incomes are no longer taxed.

[memphis]

I'm sure our schools will just build themselves.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Absolutely. A major violation of individuals' property rights.

[Derek]

I'm sure our schools will just build themselves.

user fees and VAT, I do think we need to build more schools

[??????????]

No, of course not. However I have no problem with exempting seniors from having to pay school millage like Georgia does. Here we have Homestead exemptions which knocks off 25k off the value of our home before assessing taxes.

[Derek]

Pay mine then.

[memphis]

I'm sure our schools will just build themselves.

user fees and VAT, I do think we need to build more schools

So you want a more centralized method of taxation and distribution? Interesting...

[Tuck!]

Absolutely. A major violation of individuals' property rights.

[fezzyfestoon]

Pay mine then.

No, move out of your town.

[fezzyfestoon]

No, of course not. However I have no problem with exempting seniors from having to pay school millage like Georgia does. Here we have Homestead exemptions which knocks off 25k off the value of our home before assessing taxes.

I actually have a problem with that.  Just because they might not see any direct benefit doesn't mean they shouldn't have to support the community equally.  If I don't see a direct benefit to me personally in roads being maintained because I don't have a car does that mean I don't have to pay for that?

[Derek]

Pay mine then.

No, move out of your town.

My point was that the first ppl to want to raise or keep taxes are those who do not pay taxes to begin with. Did you know that almost 50% of Americans paid no income tax last year? I think we should all pay the same through a VAT of 23% on goods other than food and clothes.

[memphis]

No, of course not. However I have no problem with exempting seniors from having to pay school millage like Georgia does. Here we have Homestead exemptions which knocks off 25k off the value of our home before assessing taxes.

I actually have a problem with that.  Just because they might not see any direct benefit doesn't mean they shouldn't have to support the community equally.  If I don't see a direct benefit to me personally in roads being maintained because I don't have a car does that mean I don't have to pay for that?

^^^^^^^^^^
If only the people who used public schools paid for them, they wouldn't be public schools.

[dead0man]

no (fake libertarian)

[opebo]

They should be made progressive depending on house value, but lowered on rental properties below a certain market-rent level.  In other words we should use high property taxes on homes, especially higher end homes, to subsidize a tax subsidy for low-rent housing.

For example, the tax on a high end home - say $250K or more, should be doubled, but the tax on an apartment complex with $500/month apartments, or a trailer park, should be halved.

[Gustaf]

It is a good source for revenue and should help against housing bubbles. It should probably be combined with a threshold so you can't pay more than a certain % of your income to avoid people getting driven from their homes. (that's what I'm currently leaning towards anyway)

[Derek]

They should be made progressive depending on house value, but lowered on rental properties below a certain market-rent level.  In other words we should use high property taxes on homes, especially higher end homes, to subsidize a tax subsidy for low-rent housing.

For example, the tax on a high end home - say $250K or more, should be doubled, but the tax on an apartment complex with $500/month apartments, or a trailer park, should be halved.

$250,000 or more? Ok Obama

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The easiest (and, in practice, fairest) way of local government to raise money.

[John Dibble]

Only if you could find a better means for local governments to collect revenue. Sales taxes wouldn't really work because if your tax is much higher than neighboring locales it discourages people from spending in your area, including the people who live in the area itself. Local governments don't have the resources necessary to enforce an income tax considering that people often work outside of the cities and counties they live in and maintaining the bureaucracy needed for that wouldn't likely be cost effective at that level. User fees doesn't address the problem of poverty, as some people may not be able to afford the fees necessary to send their kids to school which would not be a good thing for the individual children or the community as a whole.

No human system is going to work perfectly, but I think property taxes work better at the local level than other solutions, so that's the solution we should go with.

[WillK]

... I think we should all pay the same through a VAT of 23% on goods other than food and clothes.

How would we all pay the same with a VAT?   If I purchase less than you, I would pay less.
And why exempt food and clothes?   

[Mint]

No but ideally they'd be changed so that the land itself is taxed as opposed to any improvements you make or anything productive like that.

[Mechaman]

No but ideally they'd be changed so that the land itself is taxed as opposed to any improvements you make or anything productive like that.

^^^^^^
Pretty much this.

Ideally I would like to see all taxation replaced by a land values tax instead of such crazy ideas like the Flat Tax or "Fairtax".

[Brandon H]

At the local government level, I like property taxes, but it should be directly tied into services at the property. For the fire department and to a lesser extent the police department, the guy with a $200,000 home has a bigger interest than the guy with the $100,000 home in having those services. On the other hand, as it relates to schools, a persons interest is tied more to the number of kids in those schools than the value of his property.

[Gustaf]

No but ideally they'd be changed so that the land itself is taxed as opposed to any improvements you make or anything productive like that.

^^^^^^
Pretty much this.

Ideally I would like to see all taxation replaced by a land values tax instead of such crazy ideas like the Flat Tax or "Fairtax".

How would that ever work in practice? How can you value land independently of what is done with it? Remember, in Europe, pretty much the entire landscape is man-made, through irrigation and such.

[Derek]

The federal income tax and property tax should be abolished. The new text books in Texas are going to talk about how property rights are being abused by the government now. Also, our children need to learn more than just what the school board wants to teach.