$ky-high Property Taxes: Are We Still Under British Colonial Rule?

How soon we forget…  It was only a few hundred years ago that American colonialists were pressured into breaking away from their mother country due to harsh tax laws. It wasn’t an easy decision for the citizens to consider forming into a young nation without retaining ties to England.

 How soon we forget…

It was only a few hundred years ago that American colonialists were pressured into breaking away from their mother country due to harsh tax laws. It wasn’t an easy decision for the citizens to consider forming into a young nation without retaining ties to England.

Taxation is not a new idea. Tax structures have been prevalent since ancient times. Taxes represent a transfer of wealth from citizens of a society to the ruling class of that nation. Taxation was noted in the Bible, in which tax collectors were hated with passion. Almost anything may be taxed and there are many methods to apply taxation.

History first documents tax records applied back in ancient Egypt, where taxpayers were expected to provide a significant portion of the agricultural produce they cultivated from lands to the ruling class.

The Romans created the first known toll tax for using roadways. Traveling on Roman-built roads was a privilege of those who could afford to pay the designated toll tax. Apparently, some things never change.

In our society today, no one — NO ONE — can explain honestly and intelligently why in a depression/recession of this magnitude, with ongoing job losses, long-term unemployment and ever-increasing home foreclosures, along with a treacherously crumbling housing/real estate market, that appraisal values continue to escalate dramatically.

In fact, appraisal districts seem to feel entitled to raise annual appraisals without real justification.

Not only is the property tax system illegal as is, it is an infantilizing, inadequate and financially oppressive system — much as the one forced upon American colonialists by King George of England.

Here in Texas, for many years Governor Rick Perry and members of the legislature have diverted various and significant fiscal state responsibilities onto local county and city governments, who then are motivated to increase property taxes on their residents. Governments of other U.S. states have done the same. It is clear that “History repeats itself.”

Those in power today seem to have forgotten that the United States of America emerged from England’s oppressive taxing structure via a revolution. Other nations, e.g., France, have done the same. Unfair taxation and an overburdened population were the primary reasons that the colonies rebelled and broke-away from British rule. Apparently, some things never change and those in power seem to forget the lessons history tries to teach us.

The current property tax systems unfairly overburdens U.S. citizens. It is only a matter of time before “the backs” of taxpayers are fiscally broken. Our rulers are blind to that fact. Will it take another revolution to highlight the need for expedient resolution?

(Peter Stern of Driftwood, Texas, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a Disabled Vietnam Veteran and holds three post-graduate degrees.)