Equalization or fairness? If you look at the current assessments there is a remarkable disparity because property selling on the open market for millions of dollars, and earning annual cash rent of $40k is taxed at about the same level as a residence valued at less than half a million dollars.
There are many areas of unfairness in property tax assessments. If there is truly a separation of church and state, the fact that a church owns a property, or a "non-profit," should not be considered for lower rates by government. Any medical facility that can pay it's highly paid CEO $50 million as a retirement bonus is not "non-profit." All their real estate should be taxed as commercial property. By not increasing spending but by taxing ALL real estate, the taxes for homes would drop dramatically. People need to live somewhere and have the "right" to have a home. They have less a need to have a golf course, Eagles or Elks club or a church for that matter.
This is the first step in county consolidation which is supported by the 'Districts'--First District,etc. Do you want your county seat to be centralized with the neighbors?
I am okay with combining county functions with those of other counties. It might be feasible that we could do away with counties entirely and just have state government take care of the same business. Or, something in between like 10 counties for the state.
Equalization or fairness? If you look at the current assessments there is a remarkable disparity because property selling on the open market for millions of dollars, and earning annual cash rent of $40k is taxed at about the same level as a residence valued at less than half a million dollars.
There are many areas of unfairness in property tax assessments. If there is truly a separation of church and state, the fact that a church owns a property, or a "non-profit," should not be considered for lower rates by government. Any medical facility that can pay it's highly paid CEO $50 million as a retirement bonus is not "non-profit." All their real estate should be taxed as commercial property. By not increasing spending but by taxing ALL real estate, the taxes for homes would drop dramatically. People need to live somewhere and have the "right" to have a home. They have less a need to have a golf course, Eagles or Elks club or a church for that matter.
This is the first step in county consolidation which is supported by the 'Districts'--First District,etc. Do you want your county seat to be centralized with the neighbors?
I am okay with combining county functions with those of other counties. It might be feasible that we could do away with counties entirely and just have state government take care of the same business. Or, something in between like 10 counties for the state.