The scam is that they can sell this as capping “your taxes”, and those who don’ pay attention to how things actually work will think k it’s true. Because on the surface, a cap on personal income tax *looks* like something that would benefit everyone equally. A “flat tax” seems like the same kind of idea. And a *sales* tax increase looks like an even better idea, because it taxes *consumption*, and don’t rich people spend more money than we do? (Spoiler: No, not really.) So the challenge is figure out how to make the pitch that regressive and flat taxes are actually screwing you over fit on a bumper sticker. Figure out how to do that, and you can win with it. Because that’s as much attention as a majority of voters are going to devote to it. It’s not that they’re stupid (most of them) or don’t care (many of them) they simply can’t devote the time it takes to research every single line item, even if they can process what it says.
Property taxes are often more regressive than sales taxes. Many seniors on fixed incomes pay 10% of their annual earnings on property taxes alone. And both commercial real estate and high-end residential real estate are notoriously and systemically under valued -- and therefore undertaxed.
No worries, that’s being corrected in the newest assessments. We got out of Wendell just in time to miss the largest increase in valuation in Wake County, only to land in Chatham just in time for the valuation to go up 89% on our *house* the following year. Not the *land under it*, the actual structure. I wish all my investments had that kind of annualized return. That said, our property in Chatham probably *was* undervalued. I’m just glad we didn’t have city taxes to deal with too. A friend of mine lives in Pittsboro proper, and got absolutely *hammered* in the last increase.
Anyone remember a gentleman and his band of thieves back in merry old England who stole from the rich to give to the poor? It appears that the Republicans are doing a reverse Robin Hood.
The scam is that they can sell this as capping “your taxes”, and those who don’ pay attention to how things actually work will think k it’s true. Because on the surface, a cap on personal income tax *looks* like something that would benefit everyone equally. A “flat tax” seems like the same kind of idea. And a *sales* tax increase looks like an even better idea, because it taxes *consumption*, and don’t rich people spend more money than we do? (Spoiler: No, not really.) So the challenge is figure out how to make the pitch that regressive and flat taxes are actually screwing you over fit on a bumper sticker. Figure out how to do that, and you can win with it. Because that’s as much attention as a majority of voters are going to devote to it. It’s not that they’re stupid (most of them) or don’t care (many of them) they simply can’t devote the time it takes to research every single line item, even if they can process what it says.
Property taxes are often more regressive than sales taxes. Many seniors on fixed incomes pay 10% of their annual earnings on property taxes alone. And both commercial real estate and high-end residential real estate are notoriously and systemically under valued -- and therefore undertaxed.
No worries, that’s being corrected in the newest assessments. We got out of Wendell just in time to miss the largest increase in valuation in Wake County, only to land in Chatham just in time for the valuation to go up 89% on our *house* the following year. Not the *land under it*, the actual structure. I wish all my investments had that kind of annualized return. That said, our property in Chatham probably *was* undervalued. I’m just glad we didn’t have city taxes to deal with too. A friend of mine lives in Pittsboro proper, and got absolutely *hammered* in the last increase.
Anyone remember a gentleman and his band of thieves back in merry old England who stole from the rich to give to the poor? It appears that the Republicans are doing a reverse Robin Hood.
I think the last thing our legislature needs is any more authority over anything.