The Worst Tax

By
eric
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69
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There is good news, here and there. In North Dakota, there is a ballot initiative that will be voted up or down in about a week from now that would eliminate property taxes in that state. Put another way, it would make home ownership real in that state.

It isn’t – as of yet – in any state.

Because – as of now – in every state – the state owns your house (and land). That is to say, the greedy hands who control the government of your city or county; the ones who send you what is styled an “assessment” of what they consider to be the value of what you like to think of as your home. Which it obviously isn’t, given that you are forced to pay money every year, to these greedy hands, based on the assessment.

If that is not rent then what is? Other than the semantics?


But it’s easier for the greedy hands to get people to pay thousands – in some cases, tens of thousands – annually and forever in rent on the places they live in by allowing them the happy delusion they’re the “owners.” It’s a delusion similar to the one that afflicts many tax sheep who think “law enforcement” works for them. “I pay your salary!” a few of the more deluded ones will say when accosted by an amused law enforcer.

If this ballot initiative passes, it would set a wonderful precedent. And even if it doesn’t, it also sets a precedent in that there has not been a serious attempt to end this most tyrannical of all taxes since the greedy hands first began to apply rent to the things we used to actually own.

Naturally, there is opposition – from the greedy hands. This includes the greedy hands who live next door – “neighborly” people in the Tim Walz sense – who believe it’s righteous to force their neighbors to finance the government “services” they want and like. Most of all, the government schools that relieve parents of the burden of educating their children by placing that burden on others.

The Tax Foundation puts it thusly – and dishonestly:

“The constitutional initiative (would) mov(e) North Dakota further away from the benefit principle of taxation, which holds that those who receive or benefit from public services should pay for them.”

Italics added.

What if one does not wish these “benefits”? Or receive any benefit – by not partaking of them?

The assumption, of course, is that everyone in the “community” benefits from what amounts to a sickly (but getting stronger) iteration of communism – in which you are your brother’s keeper, at gunpoint if need be. It does not matter that you don’t have kids in the government’s schools; that you school your kids at home (and at your own expense). You must pay rent so that the government can school other people’s kids, on the hypothesis that you obtain some vague “benefit” thereby. Never mind that these government schools regularly fail to school these other people’s kids – who graduate from the government schools both innumerate and illiterate as well as ignorant, their cognitive capabilities crippled by rote memorization and obedience training.

And never mind the asserted “benefits” provided by all of those government workers, whose work consist chiefly in harassing the honest citizens, including via the issuance of those “assessments” on the property the honest citizens are encouraged to believe they own.

It is an interestingly disordered way to consider the matter. If something is a benefit then it is rarely necessary to force anyone to pay for it. Because it benefits them to pay for it. Why do people buy homes? Because it is a benefit to have a roof over one’s head when it is raining or cold outside. How does it “benefit” one to be forced to hand over thousands of dollars annually – sometimes, tens of thousands of dollars annually – to people who are little more than ticks on your backside, drawing your life blood for their benefit?

It’s really, spectacularly effronterous. No common street thug has the audacity to lecture you that the money you just handed over at gunpoint will “benefit” you somehow. Only the pathologically disordered minds one finds in government – and sometimes, next door – could entertain such a delusion.

“The ballot measure would not deliver on the economic benefits anticipated by its supporters and would undermine the state’s economic competitiveness. There’s a genuine need for property tax reform and relief, but outright repeal of the property tax is unsound and would ultimately force a shift to more economically harmful taxes and to state control of local revenues.”

Italics added.

How would it “not deliver economic benefits” to the person who would be relieved of the endless financial burden (and attendant financial insecurity) of having to hand over thousands – even tens of thousands – of dollars annually and forever (and always increasing) in rent payments to the greedy hands? Who – effronterously – have turned that word around and on its head and accuse the people who want to keep what they earned of being the “greedy” (and “selfish”) ones.

Here I will use myself as an example. On paper – as a legal fiction – I have “owned” my house since 2004, when I made the last payment to the mortgage lender. But I have not stopped making rent payments since then. Over the past 20 years, this paying has amounted to nearly $40,000 – and I live in a “low tax” area.

I’d consider it an “economic benefit” if I still had that $40k – which I might have used to improve my property or just to have for just-in-case. No doubt others similarly situated will agree.

“Undermine the state’s economic competitiveness”? Well, that’s certainly true. But why is it a benefit to the tax sheep for the state – that is to say, the government – to be more “competitive”?

And then there’s the usual mantra of “reform” – but never eliminate. That would be “unsound” – for the greedy hands.

But imagine how sound it would be if Americans could at least hope to actually own their own home one day? To have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that even if you lose your job and don’t earn any income, you own your house and it’s yours and no one can evict you from it.

Because it’s not theirs.

We’ll soon see whether there are enough people in North Dakota who’ve tired of being forced to pay rent forever (and ever-increasing) to live in homes they will never own.

. . .

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69 COMMENTS

  1. The company that I work for has its HQ in North Dakota. While the division I work for is mainly here, they would likely let me move there and keep my job. Something like actually owning my home would be quite a “benefit” indeed! I will need to keep an eye on that.

    I hear it gets absolutely bitter insane cold there but, how bad could it be?

  2. Wow your tax is cheap. We pay almost 5K a year on house only assessed at 100k. So in ten years we’ve paid almost 50K. I get nothing in return for that – not even street lights.

  5. I skimmed the comments and did not see mention of Henry George. The land value tax theory argues that taxing the land is the only method of taxation that is not economically destructive because it forces owners of idle land to sell to those who would put it into production which is economic development.

    • Yeah, we don’t live in an agrarian society anymore for the most part. Most of us are productive in other ways and are taxed more than enough on that front. Property tax is now a form of wealth tax and as far as farmers go they get screwed on so many fronts. Wait until the socialists weasel through their tax on unrealized gains while leverage that against inflation.

      • Hi Mark,

        Yes. The purpose of the tax on property is not to fund “the schools.” It is to prevent average people from acquiring, building an passing on capital. Owning things – really owning them – is for the “elites.” We are here to work and pay and then die. All the while just barely making ends meet.

  6. Easier said than done:
    Remove government (at all levels) from education, like it used to be, much earlier. You remove one of the strongest supports for property tax.

  7. A comment at a financial blog….

    Real Estate makes you a sitting Duck for the Taxman.

    In his book War, Gwynne Dyer points out that Agricultural Based societies were often ruled by despots as…… with 10 Burly men you can shake down hapless peasants tied to a plot of land……. The Nomads however maintained their freedom, they could just move when the thugs came to their pasture.

    Be Slippery and difficult, liquid and mobile.

    With the way things are going you never know when you may have to exit.

  8. Commiela…more tax…Trump…less tax…

    The marxists call Trump Hitler….they are stupid and confused…or gaslighting….

    Hitler was from the Order of the Garter…not a Royalist…He helped the Republicans defeat the Royalists in WW3…..

    Trump is related to the Royalists…As in an Absolute Monarchy…. Hitler was a traitor to the Royalists……..

    The leftists like commiela are trying to defeat Trump….they are like Hitler….satanists….they always invert everything

    Donald Trump is the direct descendant of…. Haakon Magnusson the Elder…. the fifth king of Norway… of the Sverre dynasty…. who reigned from 1299 AD.

    The Real Origins of President Donald Trump

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy1iietjybU

  9. Voting against taxes….

    KaMaLo McDoNaLD

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-10-24/kamalo-mcdonald

    In an absolute monarchy the 1st son gets everything and becomes king….the other sons get nothing…they are lazy so they filled up the monasteries….

    In a republic all the sons take turns being the king/president….this group of princes are freemasons….who do they get directives from?…the grand master….

    From ZH comments….

    This proves it….

    “In case you missed it, the US is not a democracy. A Princeton University study by Gilems and Page performed a regression analysis on over a thousand public policy decisions, and determined that the effect of public opinion on public policy is nil. That’s right, nil.

    It doesn’t matter how you vote, it doesn’t affect the outcome in any measurable way. By extension, that also goes for protesting, organizing, dousing yourself with gasoline and setting yourself on fire on the steps of the US Senate, or whatever else you may get up to.

    It won’t influence those in power worth a damn… So, what is it that you do when, on election day, you proudly march into the voting booth and pull a lever, or touch the touchscreen of a voting machine? You are certainly not making a decision; that’s been proven already.

    But you are still doing something: you are voting in support of your owners – the ones who make public policy decisions on your behalf. If you vote, then it must be because you approve of what they are doing.” – Dmitry Orlov

  10. Why would I believe votes are actually counted in ND or anywhere else ?

    Perhaps another half dozen decades of careful investigation and gaslighting myself will do?

    Why this shit goes on ad nauseum.

  11. I once heard a lawyer explain why the government ahs the power to tax. Not sure if it is correct, but sounds as stupid as any other explanation I’ve heard.

    Being that the king owned all the land, he had the power to tax the aristocracy for their grants.

    Once the colonists threw off the king, they assumed this power in his place.

    Now, if you are of the belief that the only claim to natural land is to work to improve it to a useful purpose, then the king obviously never did this, and his claim to any land was fraudulent.

    Therefore, the government’s claim under the same reasoning is also fraudulent.

    Property tax is thus naked extortion, and a criminal act. Anyone who supports it is an accessory to that crime. Any Sherriff who enforces it is an accomplice.

  12. How long before (if it isn’t already) defenders of the status quo claims that this initiative only benefits “the wealthy”?

  13. Any tax can quickly become the worst tax. Given the power to tax also grants the power to tax at 100%. Or more. Be it your income or your home value, or your car value. While they aren’t stupid enough to try it, yet, the power is there.

  15. Thanks for yet another excellent beat down of one of the worst taxes ever imposed on the people. It is an infuriating tax and hopefully more people in more states will get similar measures added to future ballots. However, I can unfortunately see the courts finding some way to discover a way to magically shoot down these efforts in the future. Funny how that the courts always work in favor of the state.

  16. Why higher taxes?….
    Public pension funds are grossly underfunded.

    Government pension plans get the first lien on any tax revenues. Pensions get paid 100% before a single dollar goes to schools, police or any other gov service.

    this sounds like the old soviet system…..

    How Public Pensions Turn Cities Into Unlivable Hellholes

    Public pension funds are grossly underfunded. Consequently, more and more pension funds are borrowing money to play the markets. The goal is to boost returns to cover their massive funding gaps.

    pension funds can attempt to fill their funding gaps by requesting increases in yearly contributions from governments and workers. But the public-employee unions go full ape when such measures are proposed. So the remaining option is to take on greater risk. What could go wrong?

    Standing behind these pension funds are state, federal and local taxpayers – that’s you, acting as the ATM. Moreover, when the investment returns of public pension funds fall short, governments are primarily responsible for filling the void. This means cutting other spending and services or increasing taxes.

    Covering pension fund obligations is a massive drag on state and local government finances. The fact is, there’s a legion of public workers out there who’ve been promised a retirement that’s no longer affordable.

    These grand promises must be broken.

    You can witness the effects when traversing through just about every city in America that has been in existence for more than 60 years. By repeatedly reallocating spending from much needed services, the present and future conditions of cities and municipalities are being transformed to unlivable hellholes.

    Your neighbor, who retired from the city over 25 years ago, may frequently lament the shoddy conditions of the streets and sidewalks. He may bemoan the lack of resources to address burgeoning homeless encampments and the mobs of mentally ill zombies flailing about on the tired asphalt. All the taxes went to pay his pension…lol..

    An audit showing where all the taxpayer’s money went would be nice….lol

    in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions.

    https://economicprism.com/how-public-pensions-turn-cities-into-unlivable-hellholes/

    • Moreover, when the investment returns of public pension funds fall short, governments are primarily responsible for filling the void. This means cutting other spending and services or increasing taxes.

      Higher taxes…and roads don’t get fixed…

  17. Another marxist like Kommiela….

    Ursula von der Leyen at the head of the EU European Union

    The Mighty Von der Leyen Dynasty

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDtsuCVtrPE

    @ 15:09 in video…taxes should only be 2%…all the infrastructure has been built a long time ago….in some G7 countries total taxes come to 60%….

    why?…because the control group…the slave owners have their younger generation that needs lots of cash….for Ferrari’s. castles, private jets, 400 foot megayachts, etc…those are not cheap…

  18. Eric, it’s hard to find a “worst” tax as they are all horrible but this is probably on top. What I dont get is, unless youre of the landed gentry, how can anyone ever have the concept of a “family home” in America, the kind most middle class and above people in the rest of the world all have. I guess its one of the few places where the UK tax system is actually more “fair” than whats in the US (though they are trying to change it here too and most of the sheep will probably fall for it).

  19. ND is my next door neighbor, I own property there. The property tax amendment is refreshing, but judging by the blitzkreig of ads (“the fools don’t even have a plan! How will we pay for more cops, teachers, and firemen! There has to be a plan!”) I suspect it is likely to fail.

    ND has no parking meters, because of a simple effort in the 1930s by an individual to prevent charging the public rents on the streets they paid for, so it’s not without precedent. But I’d bet against this one. The brainwashing and impoverishment/slave mentality are too strong.

    Pretty much every slave rebellion in history, every democracy, is an orgy of mob violence, followed by a period of starvation and misery. The democracy (which was never supposed to be) in this nation will be no different.

    Offer to remove the shackles, and the slaves will bitch about how much better they had it under pharaoh, having a hut and some low quality gruel in the flesh pot.

  20. The title of this article is spot on Eric,
    Property tax is indeed the worst tax of all, at least the income tax depends on you having income; no income, no tax. I forget what the exact amount was when we bought this house in 1974 but the entire payment – mortgage and tax – was $350/month. The mortgage has been long paid off but the taxes are now >$13k/year, more than 3 times our entire P,I,&T payment from fifty years ago. Many of the older retirees around here are close to being forced out of their homes of decades as their pensions and Social Insecurity payments cannot keep up with the ever increasing costs of groceries, heat, and taxes.

    • Hi Mike,

      Yup. It’s despicable. Another poster mentioned what you’ve touched on here; about people who bought a house for say $80k on the assumption they could afford that. Now – 20 or 30 years later – the house is “assessed” as being worth three or four times that and they are taxed accordingly. Never mind that these people bought their home to live in – not as an “investment.” And never mind that these confiscatory taxes end up forcing people out of homes they paid for, years ago. Makes me bust a gasket.

      • Yes, it very much infuriates me as well. I just don’t understand how people have accepted this for so long when it’s very easy to figure out the insanity of it. If you have to pay someone to keep a home you don’t own it period!

    • “Many of the older retirees around here are close to being forced out of their homes of decades as their pensions and Social Insecurity payments cannot keep up with the ever increasing costs of groceries, heat, and taxes.”

      Just one of the steps in how the slave owners…the masters….rob the slaves….

      Step 1 When you are born you are enrolled in the slave system…birth certificate…social security number…

      enrolled in the slave system….a slave is the property of the slave owner…the master…who can kill it if it wants to…

      Step 2 The slave pays tax on income….The slave is paid in promises to pay…so not really paid…free labor…the promises to pay, it is paid in… don’t say when they will be paid, or with what….back in the better days…a long time ago…the slave was actually paid for it’s labor…in real money…gold and silver….

      but….notes…these promises to pay…can still be traded for a loaf of bread…temporarily…and soon….$500 fake money to buy a loaf of bread…..

      Step 3 When the slave buys property…which he doesn’t own…fee simple title only…he pays tax on that till he dies…

      Step 4 There huge number of other taxes the slave is forced to pay….

      Step 5 Big food…that master owns…feeds GMO chemical filled food to the slaves…so they get sick….then master owned big pharma takes large sums of money from the slave to not fix their health….

      Step 6 When the slave gets old it is pushed into a full assisted living complex…costing up to $8000 per month…the final extraction of wealth from the slave…..slave dies broke or in debt….

    • Man, thirteen thousand bucks a year. I don’t know how you can stand that Mike. Mine has gone up a thousand bucks, the last ten years. If your prices are still in the nosebleed, now might be a great time to sell and head for points south. I happen to know, places in the Florida panhandle, fifteen-twenty minutes from some of the worlds finest beach are very affordable. Three bedroom two bath brick houses, look in the two hundred-two hundred and fifty K range. Maybe they are a little old and dated, but nice houses/neighborhoods all the same. Nice rural vibe, and cheaper the further you drive toward Alabama. Its on my short list along with Alaska for possible relocation if Arizona falls .

      • Hi Norman,
        Yeah, it’s ridiculous. My parents moved to Sarasota, Florida (from NJ) when they retired. Nice area, top ten beach – Siesta Key – and great lifestyle; we inherited the house after my dad died in 2011 and did the snowbird routine for a few years. We considered making the move to living there full time but just couldn’t hack the heat/humidity from May to September so we sold the place a few years ago. Turned out to be the right move after seeing how badly Sarasota got pounded by the last two hurricanes.

        • We go back and forth on the snow bird routine Mike. Until now its mostly just spend a couple weeks, two or thee times a year visiting. Cant really get the whole vibe of a place until you’ve lived there six months or more, imo.

          I should just be happy with Arizona. Heats not a problem where I am. If it weren’t for the invasion of Illegal Aliens and commutards, I wouldn’t even be looking at the grass on the other side of the fence.

  21. Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to pay taxes to the Roman gov.

    Over the years, consumption taxes have been added to governments’ sources of revenue, the reason was always to prevent property tax increases. Property taxes still increase and other consumption taxes never sunset, always another special election to keep the consumption tax enacted.

    The govs get used to the extra tax money and fight tooth and nail to keep the tax from expiring. Ad campaigns to retain the consumption tax hit the airwaves big time.

    You are duped by duplicitous greedy govs into always paying more.

    A little bit more is never enough.

    Governments shoot themselves in the foot and expect everybody to bail them out one more time.

    Time to vote to eliminate property taxes, govs can only blame themselves.

    In 2008 there were approximately 1300 oil wells operating in western North Dakota. Today, there are more than 20,000 wells pumping oil out of the oil formations in the state. Three employees per well, goes from 3900 to 60,000 over ten years time. More people are required to get ‘er done.

    At 70 bpd average, there is going to be 1.4 million barrels each day ready for the pipeline to be distilled into gasoline, diesel, some gear oil, all at those oil refineries in Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma, California, Japan, China, Russia, Norway, you name it, there is oil for you everywhere you go.

    The State of North Dakota receives a one-time harvest tax of 10 percent. If oil production is 1,000,000 bpd, the state receives 100,000 barrels of oil to satisfy the one-time harvest tax.

    At 70 USD per barrel, 7,000,000 dollars each day paid to the state treasury.

    365×7=2555, times one million equals 2,555,000,000 dollars, that’s every year. 10,000,000,000 dollars in the Legacy Fund and counting. The state hardly needs money from property owners, pure and simple logical conclusions.

    25 billion dollars income each year from oil sold by the hundreds of oil companies in the state, you get the feeling that the oil companies are there to make some money.

    Fair warning, winters are cold.

  22. Eric, here is how your state is wasting the rent you pay:
    Virginia announces plan to bring two pro sports teams to Alexandria
    https://virginiamercury.com/2023/12/13/virginia-announces-plan-to-bring-two-pro-sports-teams-to-alexandria/
    $2 billion wasted without your consent
    “State officials and Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the basketball and hockey franchises, on Wednesday unveiled plans to create a $2 billion entertainment district in Alexandria”

  23. Who was it,,, awhile ago that tried to eliminate property tax…. Iowa? Unsurprisingly ,,, It didn’t pass. IMO the whole thing is an effort to show that the majority wants the tax rather than pay for their children’s education themselves.

    The government (public?) schools today are the lowliest of the lowly. These indoctrination centers are a safe haven for the lazy and inept NPCs which comprises probably 70 percent or more of the population.

    As for memorization. I don’t see how one could do multiplication tables or great events in history without memorizing. Most all ‘learning IS memorization.

    Today’s schools are a waste of money and resources. BUT the thing is,,, in most jurisdictions the property tax is divided. Where I live we pay a gaggle of taxes. One of the taxes is called a ‘school tax’. Another is called a county tax. Nothing is called a property tax even though that is what it is. Both can confiscate your ‘property’ if you fail to pay the tax. Both are assessed in the same manner.

    It’s a strange thing, taxes. Someone writes up a ‘bill’ another mucky muck signs it and viola! You now owe those people 15 – 70 percent of your earnings. Doesn’t seem right to me. Most all that go to Washington DC as paupers come back as millionaires. Worse,,, most areas give these parasites permission to tax them! They look at you with blank eyes indicating the light is on but nobody’s home and gurgle out “Who will build the roads?” or “Who will babysit my little Johnny?” while I slave away to pay “my fair share!”.

    Today Americans are funding the Ukraine war,,, the Israeli genocide,,, the importation of illegals by government,,, the exportation of skilled work,,, and any other self destroying project those in government can dream up. The hate list is also growing. We are required to hate the Chinese, North Koreans, Russia, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Latin and South American Nations,,, Moslem’s, Christians and most all religions.

    • I can’t say I would move, but I sure as heck would be buying some land there. If it passes ND would bring in a local tax…something similar is already in effect in PA. I don’t like taxes, but I much rather pay a local tax on my profit/wages and truly own 100% of my assets than have my assets taxed on “assessed gains” year after year based on how much the county coffers are down.

    • Hi Anon,

      I’d seriously consider moving, too. Much as I dislike the cold. But actually owning my home? Not having to cut a check to these bastards every six months to be allowed to remain living in my home?

      Hell yes.

      • From the end of April to the middle of October the weather is warm and not cold at all. The nicest summers on the planet. Have to mention that fact.

        More than forty shades of green out there in the summertime.

        Oregonians are kept inside on rainy days the same number of days North Dakotans are kept inside due to the bitter cold.

        The coldest temp ever witnessed was at 42 degrees below zero F in February of 1997. The car stays running for hours. You stay inside for your own safety.

        The hottest day I have ever seen was during the summer of 1988 in August. The temp outside in the sun was 112 degrees F, 108 degrees in the shade.

        Ukrainian nationals are here working in the oil fields. Better than getting shot at on the battlefields in Ukraine.

        Ukrainians settled in southern Saskatchewan 100 years ago, got out of Dodge early.

        There is corruption in anything and corruption exists in North Dakota.

        Mexican drug cartels are here, come on, man, it is the reality. I joke that the drug cartels lobby the state gov against the legalization of cannabis. The drug cartels in Colorado expect a decent return from North Dakota’s cannabis buyers.

        There are people in western North Dakota from all over the world due to the increase in oil production. They become snowbirds before winter sets in.

        I’m ensconced among Coloradans down here while on vacation. Just about every car here in Colorado has a Colorado license plate, lots of Coloradans in Colorado.

        The latitude is about the same in Denver as it is on Long Island, people like the climate and the Colorado Rocky Mountains, they tend to make it home.

        You can get lost in America, Colorado is a place you can be to find yourself.

        The sage is always greener on the other side of the semi-arid desert.

        • Just spent a sick-of-work day in Utah. Remarkably like how Colorado used to be. Building boom up in the STL metro, but still lots of farms along I-15, at least until you get towards St. George. Just like the I-25 corridor of old.

          Too bad they’re screwed out of water by California. At least Colorado got a pretty good portion because they had already started building the diversion tunnels to the front range before the Compact took effect.

  25. ‘North Carolina is notorious for this. You might call it a Trail of Tears.’ — Mark in BC

    Just to the south, VW-affiliated Scout Motors hasn’t bailed yet on its EeeVee plant, which received $1.3 billion in subsidies from boodling Chamber of Commerce RINOs with their red faces, bulging bellies and cheap plaid suits.

    But you can see it coming. Maybe RINO Gov Henry McMaster can enlist Nimarata to autograph some bombs to be dropped on Germany. Le Boche Paiera!, as our French comrades used to fantasize.

  26. Many of the great masses who went to public schools now live in apartments and are not homeowners. When a bond measure comes up for vote, they think they are voting someone else’s money to pay for more schools (even though the apartment rent might go up because the landlord has to pay, but they don’t think that far). So, these bonds are becoming a bill of attainder against a certain specific group of people, (homeowners). These bonds are getting voted approved more often than not. We have in Oregon and Washington a school building boom where architects get to make their artistic statements on the Homeowner’s dime with gable roof facades, brick & mortar exteriors and displacement HVAC air distribution systems. These designs are criminally expensive …$650-$700 per square foot.

    • WA stater here, yes it’s amazing the Taj Mahal school buildings going up. Here in WA the education complex owns the levers of power including the state Supreme Court. Perfectly serviceable buildings torn down & replaced with these monuments to waste.

      Multipurpose gym with a simple stage and folding chairs for the occasional school concert? Hah! Nope, gotta have a full up theater with permanent stadium design seating. Example, the Auburn WA school system has THREE performing arts centers!

      https://www.auburn.wednet.edu/Page/496

      Since when should schools be in the “performing arts business”?

      • Those performing arts centers fill a lot of soup bowls on both sides of the political aisle. As always, follow the money trail.

        The situation with those is far worse in Texas.

    • The problems you all have in Washington, and Oregon are very similar to Nevada and Arizona. When I left Nevada, back in twenty twelve, we were entrenched in a cycle where new school bonds came up every two years. The new bonds always laid out grandiose plans for X number of new schools, When the next one was proposed two years later they always had to add a bunch of nasty government cheese on top to finish paying for the previous schools that surprise, surprise, surprise came in over budget and unfinished. It is a sickness that can only existing a rigged voting system. Harry Reid had stealing elections down to a science long before our current crop of corrupt Soros/Elias SOSs

      Voting means next to nothing anymore, imo. Not sure it ever did, at least for most of my lifetime. Every single person in government at every level should be considered a sworn enemy. Hoping that Americans finally get that through their fat heads after a few months living under a vile, brain addled, Poon-jab, blowjob machine, lipsticked up as a president.

      • Another problem these States have is the infestation of Californians leaving their Shit-Hole State and bringing their Leftist ideas with them.
        I lived in Nevada when it was the Most-Free, Libertarian State in the Union. Those California Bastards (as well Turds from New York, Illinois, Virginia, etc.) moved in and changed it to the Cesspool it is now. I got the Hell out in the early 2000’s and am only registered there because the State Constitution does not allow an Income Tax.

        • The Nevada of the nineties and early two thousands was an epic place. Before that I was just a kid and visited a few times. Still, nineties Vegas had a nice vibe and plenty of reminders of old Vegas. Remember driving down Freemont in the middle of the night to get to work. Then when they made The Stand, they shut it down, and that was the beginning of the end, for driving and parking downtown.

          I hate the shitbags that have contaminated our formerly free states. Cali-fornicators first ruined Colorado and the PNW, then moved to Nevada, then Arizona. Feel like I’m in the last bastion of resistance here in N AZ. The stronghold if you will. We shall soon see.

      • You make an excellent point here Norman:
        “Every single person in government at every level should be considered a sworn enemy.”
        Now we’re getting somewhere.

        Lets refine that statement just a bit as it pertains to taxes. I suggest this: “govt employees are an enemy to every single person on the planet, with the exception of those who parasite off the govt.” There, that ought to do it.

        We need to specify & exclude govt parasites because they bring nothing to the table. Those who truly earn their money legitimately & honestly are the real victims who foot the bill for those who feast at the govt pig trough. The taxpayer is the person who suffers as a result of paying those taxes and whose standard of living is deliberately degraded for the benefit of those who use govt to connive, cheat and steal for their existence.

        • Indeed, Brian –

          If government “services” are s beneficial, why is it necessary to force people to pay for them? Why not just offer them, as people who earn an honest living do? The question answers itself.

      • Washington, and Oregon are very similar to Nevada and Arizona.

        Yes, they are all quite similar in that the majority landowner is the Federal Government. Does the Forest Service pay property taxes? How about assessing all that federal land and sending Uncle Sam an arbitrary tax bill? Nevada is especially bad in that ~98% of the land mass is public. Without Sin City the state would be broke as New Mexico.

        • From the nineties on the level of in your face corruption was stunning. BLM, which as you said owns most of the state, routinely swapped land on the ever expanding edge of Vegas for more remote, nearly worthless land.

          Through it all Harry Reid, his friends, and family always seemed to have an interest in whatever LLC was doing the swap. On the face of it I don’t have a problem with BLM unloading ‘their’ holdings, in fact, it would be great if they were required to do so. It just never seems to go out to an honest auction. Always for the benefit of some party insiders. Oh well, same as it ever was I guess.

    • Taxes are higher on rental buildings then houses….

      In their rent the renters pay more tax per square foot then the homeowner….

      The homeowner pays directly….. so sees it….makes it more painful….

  27. This is one of those things that goes on the ballot to make sure the base(s) come out to vote. The school lobby/unions will make sure the rank and file, the retired rank and file, and the PTA votes their interests.

    We all know that schools exist to babysit the kids while mom and dad are out adding to the GDP. But it also insures the rest of us can go work without having to worry as much about roving gangs of punks destroying our property too. Before the Prussian model took over, most of the time you could get by with an 8th grade education. That meant doing simple math (2-3 digit MDAS) in your head, reading well enough to comprehend the King James Bible, etc. Much of your practical education happened either though apprenticeships or on the family farm. I doubt most adults could do either of those simple tasks today, but at least they know that Lincoln was the best president ever.

    In my neck of the woods, property values have skyrocketed. Much higher than the national average, which is obviously in a bubble. Colorado has a rule where property values are reassessed every few years. This last assessment, everyone in the county saw their property tax bill doubled or more. Of course I appealed… and lost. But I thought there might be some solace in knowing that it should shut up all those teacher unions complaining about not having adequate funding. Here was a big giant windfall, and actually indexed in a way to housing costs. Except at the last minute the governor intervened and my taxes actually went down! That’s fine but now we still have the “problem” of not being able to pay teachers enough to move here to teach. Good job! Because God forbid you have a problem solve itself.

    • Government schools are foremost about the teachers, not education or students.

      The Prussian system was created to allow German princes to educate their population enough to execute orders, but not question them, and to stop deserting combat.

      I forget the book, but it detailed how education went from a couple years to learn basics to what it is today, by efforts of the “professional” education class wrenching responsibility for teaching away from families. What they really wanted was to eliminate competition.

      Even the poor could educate their kids, and literacy was quite high for having no formal system (70-80%)

  28. Sadly whether there is a property tax or not will not stop GovCo from spending money. These bastards will tax anything and everything from soda to xylophones because they can. And if they can not raise other taxes they will just borrow the money as they know most people will believe what they are told by the politicians. As we all know it’s not a revenue problem; it’s a spending problem. If you budgeted like GovCo not even Rent-A-Center would loan money to you and they’ll finance anyone.

  29. ‘As of now – in every state – the state owns your house (and land).’ — eric

    Government itself owns land — lots of it, in the American West.

    One consequence of confiscatory property taxation on ordinary middle-class houses is making people homeless. Those who ‘cant pay, won’t pay’ then proceed to live on government land, which is exempt from property tax.

    Under dispersed camping regulations, one can do this legally (providing you have an operative vehicle) by moving on to another site every 14 days. But the dirty little secret is that the Forest Service is flat broke. Our ranger district has NO law enforcement officer. Some encampments, many with moribund RVs, have remained for years.

    Our district ranger sees it as a statistical problem. Provide more recreational facilities to attract people, and the homeless will move on to more remote areas. They don’t want hikers and bikers nosing around.

    Not everyone is suited to van life. I’m not, frankly. But squatting on government land is the predictable consequence of confiscatory taxation of private land. Live on the fedgov’s land, tax freeeeeee. There’s plenty of it. And they can’t do jack shit about it.

  30. The next time you visit a state or national park and wonder how the government acquired such a beautiful piece of property, you’ll find that in many cases the land was confiscated for non payment of property taxes in the 1930s during the Great Depression.

    You’ll own nothing and be happy.

  31. Not to be the turd in the punchbowl, but it’s whack-a-mole. Property taxes may go away but other taxes will go up. It’s not like they’re spending less money.

    • You are right. Obliterate property tax, and some RINO will replace it with a VAT (Value Added Tax), an ugly European affliction which America to date has avoided. Occupied Germany, for instance, has a “Mehrwertsteuer” of 19%.

      Argentina, where non-payment of property-related charges such as street lighting and garbage collection bills is NOT a basis for seizing property, has a VAT rate of 21%. But at least those fall into poverty and can’t pay property-related bills do not get their houses sold out from under them. That is security which Americans can’t imagine.

    • Taxing the roof over one’s head is particularly loathsome. It requires one to have to perpetually generate income (or reduce savings) and pay the government not to lose your home. It’s also a tax on unrealized gains. If I bought a home 30 years ago for a sum that I believed I could afford (say $80,000), I might now get taxed on a $500,000 value because of external factors such as inflation or because increased housing demand and value of the homes in the neighborhood. It’s just vile.

      As far as other taxes, such as sales or gas tax, they may be avoided by going without or by buying in a different jurisdiction.

  32. I live in the school district outside Austin where, during Covid Kabuki, the Superintendent had the district’s AGW heroes arrest parents and drag them out of their homes in a dispute over masks at a meeting which escalated out of control.

    The latest fun out of the board is a $1 billion bond proposal initiative set on the ballot this year which I believe will pass despite every one of the four proposals carrying the text at the end “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE”, complete with capitals.

    The locals had the opportunity to purge the Socialists from the board in the midterms two years ago, but the organized effort was led by a vocal Trump supporter who the Wine Moms who decide our elections didn’t like, and the election went in favor of incumbent DEI quota hire board.

  33. A few thoughts.

    First, the hotel ad guy telling the cop that you pay its salary. In effect, you do. But, think of it this way. Imagine a company, Acme Widget, where the employees carried guns and the owner was not permitted to challenge them. The employees could beat up and cage the boss at their discretion and the boss just had to take it. How well do you think the enterprise do in supplying widgets?

    Second. When I’ve challenged leftists and GovCo lackies (but repeat myself) about the inter-generational welfare system call Public Schools they are quick to point out, “Well, didn’t YOU go to public school? Don’t you “owe it” to others to provide the same?” I would point out that, as a five year old being sent off to kindergarten, I had little input (as in ZERO) as to the decision. And, that I don’t have the right to force others to subsidize anything by pulling a gun on them. These leftist/lackies would continue to ramble on and ignore any objection to their actions and ideas.

    Third, as far as North Dakota being “competitive”, what they are talking about is Corporate Recruitment to the state. This is where tax breaks and cash payments are given to some company (usually globalist) to build a plant/facility to employ the locals. However, when these benefits run out, so do these companies. There is a name for someone that is willing to be your friend only if you pay them for the favor. But, don’t ever use that word to describe Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard, et. al. for being such an entity.

    Speaking of corporate recruitment, North Carolina is notorious for this. You might call it a Trail of Tears. The biggies are Dell Computer which was a massive bust, and now we have the Vinfast debacle. The Vietnamese battery company broke ground July ’23 and stopped work in April ’24. It’s doubtful they will ever produce anything but massive cash benefits for the owners. Can you see Gov. Roy (“My good friend, Ray.” – Hilary Clinton) Cooper going to Viet Nam and demanding the money back?

    Time to end the failed experiment of GovCo, especially the version after the Treaties of Westphalia 1648.

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