Tax Income, Not Property

By Joe Sheeran, Communications Director, September 7, 2011 at 12:30 pm

If legislature is celebrating passing another no-new-taxes budget, how come my property taxes (and likely those of my neighbors) increased by $495 this year, on top of other recent increases?

I’m not complaining about the extra money to fund the services my family takes advantage of and enjoys. I’m complaining about the way it’s collected.

For my household, that’s an extra $41 per month. We’re a young, childless couple; so it means scaling back on that monthly date night, not eliminating it. But for my 90-year-old neighbor on a fixed income, 40 bucks on top of several previous property tax increases, hurts. For the family up the block with three kids and a laid-off parent, it hurts.

Think about it. Wouldn’t it make more fiscal sense and be more equitable if public revenue increases were tied to income, especially because our highest income earners already pay a much lower effective tax rate?

“No-new-taxes” is failed policy. It means no new-taxes on rich household’s income, pushing public services’ financing off to those with a lesser ability to pay. It means those the recession already hit, get whacked again.

It sets city councils and school districts up to levy higher burdens so that conservative lawmakers can wag their fingers about fiscal accountability. According to several Minnesota 2020 reports, local governments have significantly scaled back, cutting services and laying off workers, further hurting local economies.

Still, there’s a basic level of service they have to provide—plowing roads, maintaining traffic signals and street lights, and protecting the public.

I’d be ok paying $50-$60 extra in combined family income tax per month so that neighbors on hard times weren’t facing a double blow from this recession. I’d hope that if I fell on hard times, neighbors doing well would advocate for the same policies.

Posted in Fiscal Policy | Related Topics: "No New Taxes"  Income Tax  Property Tax  Tax Fairness 

1 Comment

roger franke says:

September 8, 2011 at 1:41 pm

In all my years of watching state government, I have always wondered why GOPers have always defended the property tax as opposed to the income tax.  In the debates during the next legislative campaign and session, I would love to hear GOPers respond to this question, “Why do you support taxes on property rather than taxes on ability to pay?”

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