That property tax issue – if you don’t pay your property taxes, your property is seized, which means you don’t actually own your land, you only lease it from the government – it seems to me that this may be something that is a relatively tractable problem. How much initiative could we get in various states to pass state Constitutional amendments that I think would spread like wildfire:
The Citizen Land Sovereignty Amendment
The citizens of the state of ____ own their land, and the state may not acquire land from the citizenry except through free market transactions. Eminent domain is forbidden to the Government localities of the State of ____, and title of land may not be seized due to property tax disputes. During disputes between the state or localities and various citizenry, the states and localities may acquire right of first refusal of title or resort to garnishing wages or other legal means of relief, but may not directly acquire title without the consent of the citizen.
6 replies on “A Tractable Idea To Fix Just One Thing”
I like this idea!
I like the idea Ian because if there is a permanent de facto tax lean on our property we never really have ownership of it.
Property tax isn’t merely a state means of forcibly acquiring tax revenue.
It is a means for the BANKS to continue to profit through loaning money that doesn’t exist at interest.
Ever notice how mortgage interest is front loaded versus how, say, a car loan is not (over the life of the loan)?
That’s why we can pay the mortgage on a house for years and not begin making a dent in the principle for the first 5 or so years (depending on the terms).
For example, I bought a home for $127,900 @ 3.25% for 30 years. Paid a mortgage payment of around $700 a month (excluding insurance) for 9 years. When I sold my house after 9 years, my payoff was almost $115K.
If we don’t pay property tax they can take our home/land so that the BANKS can make more interest off said home/land by financing it yet again.
Follow the money! The property tax laws are written for the BANKS in a state tax coffer disguise.
The BANKS run our Federal Reserve. The BANKS get the bailouts. Remember the 2008 bailouts?
Excellent idea!!!
I do have one caveat. As someone who has served as a municipal volunteer, I can imagine EXTREMELY RARE circumstances when eminent domain would be necessary. So I might amend that to say:
Eminent domain is forbidden to the Government localities of the State of ____, except when specifically authorized by a supermajority vote of the State legislature,
I wouldn’t be opposed to that sort of exception…but I’m willing to let the laboratory of our states work that out.
There was a case where a farmer worked a very large plot of land and the state wanted to put a interstate highway thru it, effectively dividing his property into 2 sections with no access for 5 miles to the other half. The case dragged on in court until it reached the State Supreme Court that ruled the state would give him a double-wide bridge for access with his equipment. If he didn’t accept that, the plan would go ahead anyway. I can’t imagine how much money those proceedings cost him.