Martin Cash said:
schmellba99 said:
Martin Cash said:
jeremiahjt said:
He is the candidate most serious about eliminating property taxes so he has my vote in the primaries.
Then you're wasting your vote, because that will never, ever happen.
With this mentality here - you are right, it will never happen.
So let's just keep electing people that do the same thing, over and over again. Because in true Texas fashion - that's what we've always done, obviously it can never be changed, right?
I'm genuinely curious - a whole lot of folks here have said "no" on Huffines. But noboyd has actually stated why, as in specifics as to why Abbott or whomever would be a better selection.
I'm not in favor or against any one of them, other than Abbott. His handling of the pandemic bull**** and closing of public areas was the final straw for me, he and every politician that went along with that garbage won't get my vote in any primary 100%. So I'm really curious as to why, other than just "no" the disdain for somebody that has the unmitigated gall to hav ea different idea than what we do now in terms of taxes.
I'm about to write a pretty friggin big check for my property taxes, so this one hits home. Just like I will do every January in perpetuity, because the current system in Texas means you never actually own real property, you lease it from the state for life. And that is absolutely crap IMO.
This is a tired and illogical argument. The government has to get money to operate, and it has to come out of your pocket. It's just a matter of how Our constitution prohibits an income tax. If you eliminate property tax, that leaves a sales/value added tax, which would have to be in the neighborhood of 40% to replace all property taxes. The property tax is easy to gripe about, because you have to write that 'big check' once a year. If it were spread out over the year, as sales and income taxes are, the criticism would be much less. It's simply not a feasible thing to do, and campaigning on it is dishonest to say the least.
What has Huffines promised?
1. Eliminate property tax - impossible for him to do, and if he could, it would be catastrophic.
2. Term limits on all elected offices - impossible for him to do.
3. Cowboys win the Super Bowl - I'll just leave it at that!
It is neither tired, nor illogical.
You don't own property in Texas, period. Even after your mortgage is paid in full, if you don't pay the taxes on it, what you "own" free and clear can be stripped from you and sold at auction. That isn't ownership, that's leasing from the state pure and simple.
You notion that eliminating the property tax is something that can't be done is pure garbage. Amazing how it works in other states, but somehow won't work in Texas. And I'd argue that it won't have to be a 40% tax, but I also don't know exactly or claim to know exactly how much it would have to go up from teh current 8.25% to work. I generally view numbers like the 40% as scare tactics used by folks like you that are just so certain that something can't be done because you've never actually seen it done or bothered to look around to see other places doing what you claim is impossible.
When the mentality is "well, can't be done, so we must all continue to get screwed!", what's the point in even having a campaign or anything of the sort? IT is a pure defeatest attitude and a prime reason that there is almost no checks and balances on how the property taxes are assessed or how the loopholes are exploited by local governments year in and year out.
But hey, you get the illusion that you actually own something and get to brag about "no income tax!" to folks, even though the tax burden is generally higher because it's based on arbitrary property values.
The argument that spreading taxes out over the year is also laughable, because that is exactly what the majority of people do with their monthly escrow. Hell, I bet 95% or more are as clueless on their property taxes as they are on their payroll and FICA taxes because of this. At least with a sales tax or VAT, I have actual control over my tax burden based on what I choose to spend. But hell, us serfs don't need to have such lofty power, now do we?
