Taxes
I'm not talking about income taxes which are bad enough for so many reasons (like taxing the refund which is already taxed money the govt denied you the use of for the year) but real estate taxes.
Saturday, my assessement, how much my local government has determined my house is worth, arrived. My property is worth a whopping $204,000 more than it was when I bought it 20 years ago. It is worth $40,000 more than two years ago. On top of this the locals want to UP the TAX RATE. So in one year they want to up my real estate tax payment by $1000+!
How do these petty tyrants get away with this? Most folks who "own" property pay the taxes through the escrow accounts held by their mortgage holder. So, the "owner" doesn't get to see the tax bill, not exactly anyway. Easy to avoid the pain that way. So, you might call me the "owner" but I don't as the government can take my property to give to another private person to make more money and pay more taxes to the government OR if I somehow neglect to pay my taxes. AND they can do this at the point of a gun. Perhaps, I'm beginning to think I don't own anything.
Labels: Politics
