“How are people not furious about property taxes?”
President Trump has accomplished a lot in his first month as Commander in Chief and, for the most part, the right side of the aisle is ecstatic about it. He has delivered wins in regard to men competing in women’s sports, removed wasteful DEI policies, and curbed illegal immigration, all with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. However, as excited as liberty lovers on the right are for the next four years, something recently happened in Florida that may eclipsing these accomplishments while also changing the political landscape in favor of We the people, forever.
In a recent press conference the Governor of Florida and former presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, stated that taxing land and property is “oppressive and ineffective.” More specifically, he said that “Just for being on your property, you’ve got to write a check to the government every year, so you’re basically paying rent to the government to live on your own property. We’re going to be really looking at ways to bring people relief from that, because I think it’s been really something that’s pinching a lot of homeowners, particularly seniors on fixed income.”
Needless to say, this has inspired immediate backlash from the statists and bureaucrats who enjoy wasting taxpayer dollars, but since the initial press conference DeSantis has doubled down and, essentially, told those revenue vultures that they will just have to make up the 40 billion these taxes bring in somewhere else.
This was quite the mike drop moment to be sure, but be that as it may, should we all applaud him for this. I mean, yes, it is fantastic that he is starting to raise awareness of this form of tyranny and governmental oppression, but it seems like this should have been addressed a long, long time ago.
You see, enshrined in our founding documents are our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness/property; and in many Libertarian circles property is the most distinct of these in truly free societies. Yet even though this is such an obvious and self-evident right, none of us here in the United States can actually own property, we can only rent it from the nobility in Washington.
This reality flies in the face of everything this country is all about, and it should make us all sick that it is only now being seriously critiqued by our elected leaders. Furthermore, it should make We the People sick that we have allowed politicians, for the entirety of our country’s history by the way, to treat us like serfs in a feudal system in which the king owns all of the land and we mere peasants only get to lease small morsels. This is unacceptable because, per our own Constitution, we are all citizens, not subjects.
Now to those who disagree and think that I am making a false comparison and that this is a completely acceptable use of government power, let’s look at how this process actually works. So, lucky you, you just purchased a shiny new house and a couple of acres for $400,000 with cash. It is a little run down but hey, it’s your first home and it took 10 years to save up for it. Plus, the extra land makes it worth it, and you are overall pretty grateful.
The income taxes and all of that jazz are paid, you pay taxes on your electricity and water services, and you pay sales tax every time you purchase items for home improvement. You also pay taxes on every paycheck you receive, most of which ends up going back into running/improving the home and property, but it’s worth it because, no matter what else happens, you own property and now have something to pass down to your children as part of your family legacy.
Uh oh, 6 months into owning this house and property you get laid off, but all in all its ok because you don’t have a mortgage and you can take side jobs to keep up with the utility bills. 6 more months go by and you hear a knock at the door. It’s the County Accessor here to evaluate your home and determine how much it is worth. Confused, you let this unelected bureaucrat in and don’t think much of it. You had already saved a little money to cover property taxes this year on your $400,000 home.
A few weeks later you get a letter in the mail from the State. They tell you that, thanks to the improvements you made, your house is now worth $700,000 and that your property taxes will reflect this increase in worth. Well, now you are screwed because you don’t have the money for these taxes, and you don’t have gainful employment at the moment. A few months later the government seizes your house, sells it for $200,000, pockets the change and you are kicked to the curb.
This is not an exaggeration. Your government can literally do this, folks. So, I reiterate, why the hell is this not a massive issue every election cycle? Is it because people think we need these taxes to pay for schools and other public services? Well, they shouldn’t because if you look back at this scenario the individual was taxed when they bought the house, taxed on their paychecks, and then taxed again on the things those paychecks purchased. Does the government also need to hold your own bought and paid for property over your head year after year with increased property taxes just because they are incompetent and burn money like it’s a cross at a Klan rally? Absolutely not and it is an outrage that they feel as if they can.
Even though this issue is infuriating, the worst part is that, technically, the government has the authority to do this thanks to the 14 Amendment, but that doesn’t mean it is right or Constitutional. Because of this I will be beating the war drum about this issue non-stop until more Governors and state actors alike jump on board and correct this 250 year old mistake. I hope you will join me, but either way, if Ron can pull this off and it starts a trend that spreads to other states, well, then I stand by the statement that this could end up eclipsing all of Trump’s presidency. Sure, it isn’t as flashy as some of the things Trumps administrations is doing, but it will be a move that makes We the People, for the first time in American history, citizens and not serfs.
