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Leon[_7_]

On 1/16/2017 2:13 PM, wrote:
On Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 11:01:19 PM UTC-6, Leon wrote:
Believe me if you pay property taxes and know some one that pays
less than you do, you may be paying more than necessary. Why
should some one in a million dollar home pay more property tax than
some in a $250,000 home. Is the guy in the million dollar home
getting 4 times as many services. Probably not. Property taxes
should not be based on value of the property. Everyone should pay
the same amount for the same services.

You seem to be in favor of property taxes as a set fee. Everyone
pays the exact same price. Taking the "flat tax" philosophy to an
extreme. Everyone should pay the exact same dollar amount of taxes
regardless of their income. No progressive to it.

Found a website about Houston city property taxes that said this:

I live in an unincorporated area of Ft. Bend county, west of Houston.

"The property tax provides more tax dollars for local government
services in Texas than any other source. Property taxes help pay for
public schools, city streets, county roads, police, fire protection,
and many other services."

With streets and maybe police and fire, maybe, everyone should get
the exact same service regardless of income or wealth or property
value. But most property tax money is used for public schools. In
my city the wealthier suburbs with nice homes have much, much, much
nicer schools than the ghettos. I would guess it is the exact same
in Houston too. People with million dollar homes want their little
children to go to nice schools. Nice schools with swimming pools,
new football stadiums, new basketball courts, performing arts
centers, no lead pipes for drinking water, indoor plumbing with
automatic flush toilets, solariums, etc.

So it would be pretty hard
to pay for those nice schools in the millionaire areas if property
taxes are not based on home value.

How do you figure that? Every one pays the same tax, with some
exemptions, for the very poor, and all money goes to pay the budget. If
every one is paying the same it will be harder for the government to
hide misuse of funds. Every one will be affected if the tax goes up.
FWIW school taxes are collected but are a separate entity of property tax.

Unless you are also proposing that we tax everyone the same, poor,
rich, does not matter, everyone pays the exact same tax amount.

That is what I am proposing, just like everything else, sales tax,
merchandise etc.

Then
we give the vast majority of that total money to the rich kids so
they can have nice schools. Poor kids should be happy with a shack
and outhouse.

No, all money goes into a general fund and is distributed equally to all
schools depending on the population of students.

If rich people want something special for their kids schools they can
get involved with something like the PTA to collect for special amenities.