I'd be opposed to eliminating property taxes. Property taxes are the only source of revenue to pay for local government: for Fire Dept, Police Dept, schools, County government bureaus and agencies, local welfare, library, etc. If property taxes were deleted then all that would be handeled by the state in the capital, and local control would cease to exist.
It should be used to eliminate sales taxes first, corporate taxes second, and individual income taxes third.
It should also be used at the state level to mitigate problems and costs incurred by the new industries that are peripheral to the new wealth.
That's not true at all. Localities get sales tax. States get income tax. Between those two taxes alone they are receiving plenty of money. They also receive funds from the feds for roads.
I would suggest that education could be properly funded through those taxes and private donations alone.
Getting rid of property taxes would free money for private education which is a better model. That's why if you read the article, the ineffective 'public unions' are opposed.
I'm sorry GG, but the state governments do get sales taxes. They allow counties to do their own county sales taxes on certain things like restaurants, hospitality sports on top of the state sales tax, but state sales taxes go to state treasury for distribution, and states get state income taxes also. I suppose it depends on the state, but I think that if you do a search you'll find that your own state operates just as I said. The state governments distribute money down to the local authorities just like the federal government does to the states.
I see that you are probably a libertarian, and perhaps believe that education would be financed by private initiatives; I don't share that belief. Education and the things local governments (as I listed them in my post you quoted) do needs to be kept there and interfered with as little as possible. It's state level govt that interferes with local govt and not vice-versa.
And state level governments throughout the country control how locals can handle their own property taxes, such as audits required, reporting to the local taxpayers, and exemption like homestead exemptions and old age exemptions. The state governments can enable old age exemptions so that seniors who no longer work, and who have raised their children can be exempted at some point from the full property tax assessment.
The property tax is a good tax because it is a flat tax based on property owned, and everybody is effected, even renters. If property taxes are too high in the city, low income people who rent will find units outside the city; if they become too high in a county they can find cheaper rent in a nearby outlying county, or they can move on to another state if need be.
As far as I'm concerned cut back at the state level where the interference in local affairs originates from, and empower local government because it's there that citizens can best show up at county councils (the financial authority) or county commissioners (the executive authority) and make their voices heard. Not much can be affected at the state capital that is productive; consider the recent events in Wisconsin’s capital, how chaotic that was. We need local people remonstrating against local authority. State capitals are like Washington, in that they are removed from the local power structure and influence.
When dealing with local boards, the public unions will not so easily inveigle pensions that are higher than they earned while full time employees, or get benefits that their neighbors don’t get. And tyou can oss California out of all rational examples of what’s normal for flyover country.
