You can bet your taxes will continue going up!
As long as we elect people who are not committed to limited, responsible government, your taxes will increase.
Real estate taxes will be no exception. In Pennington County, South Dakota, county commissioners recently decided to “equalize” real estate taxes. Three people made this decision. There are five commissioners, so three is a majority. In this case, three of them decided to raise $1.6 million dollars from a group of about 475 property owners. They accomplished this task by RAISING taxes. They changed a requirement for agricultural classification from 40 acres to 160 acres. This simple change will more than double the real estate taxes paid by many of these unfortunate property owners.
Even some conservatives seem to agree that raising taxes on this group of people is a good idea. The argument they use is that is isn’t “fair” for these property owners to continue receiving an ag classification because “the rest of us” have to pay higher taxes. Never mind that when many of these people bought these properties they did so based on their budget. Overnight, their taxes will more than double, forcing some to sell their properties or take other extreme measures just to hang on to their homes.
Why does “fairness” require an $1.6 million dollar tax increase? Wouldn’t a better choice be to LOWER taxes on those who may be paying an unfair share?
A few of my normally conservative friends make the argument that the only good tax is one “the other guy pays”. It seems that they are comfortable with a tax INCREASE “the other guy pays”. What they seem to be missing is that this is really just one more tax increase. If FAIRNESS were the issue, then let’s REDUCE taxes on those who are paying to much.
Former South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds chose this method of tax “fairness” when he was in office. He called it “revenue enhancement”. He made a list of taxpayer groups who were getting “unfair” advantage, and proposed to increase their taxes. Some of those “revenue enhancements” were stopped by conservatives in the state Legislature.
Whether you call it “revenue enhancement” or “tax fairness”, a tax increase is a tax increase.
If government officials really want tax “fairness”, they would reduce taxes and stop continued government growth.
***Gordon Howie is a nationally syndicated author, host of Liberty Today TV and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***
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Okay lets dig into the “real facts” SD law mandates a fixed percentage for Cost of living increases, which this year is about 2.1%+ Growth, so it raised taxes on 475 but the overall county dollars would lower the tax burden for several thousand.(um thats a fact) The dollars are only going up by 2.1% where is the government raising taxes, oh yeah its mandated. Know the facts before going on a tangent, if the three commissioners want to not take the 2.1 they can hold them accountable for that. So what if a mansion was not allowed to be valued as Ag land out of the 475 how many are valued at over 750k, lets see those figures.
Ok lets try it again. You don’t seem to be interested in answering a simple question but it deserves to be answered so how about it. Talking about bumper stickers makes for some fun topics but it doesn’t feed the bulldog.
Lets hear just exactly where you want to see cuts come from at each government level, local, state, and federal. Be as specific as you can so I can see where you stand on the subject. Don’t dance around and get side tracked.
I hear all this talk about cutting taxes but nowhere do I see what you would be willing to do without.
The Blindman
For starters, I am willing to do without this $1.6 million dollar tax increase.
“If government officials really want tax “fairness”, they would reduce taxes and stop continued government growth.”
More people all the time, what does it mean?
More needs, infrastructure, education, reliable medical services for everyone, and a fair business climate that works for everyone not just those that are rich.
Gordon, how do you propose that we make up the difference when taxes are cut when the needs of the people continue to rise? the difference has to come from somewhere doesn’t it?
The Blindman
I support the SD Republican Party platform… “The South Dakota Republican Party believes the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations. The best government is that which governs least.”
5.2 “The South Dakota Republican Party supports the continued review and reduction of federal, state and local taxation to protect the long-term economic viability of all people of South Dakota.”
“making up the difference” is a great bumper sticker for increasing taxes, but government on every level is bloated and needs to be reduced.