Three letters regarding excessive property taxes appeared in just two recent days. There must be something afoot. Have the taxpayers had enough?
It would seem that it doesn’t really matter, when the courts shoot down initiatives passed by the voters. All it takes is a couple judges and slick lawyers and anything is possible.
Don’t blame the county assessor, though. That office will tell you it isn’t their fault, the state makes them do it. Ask the state, if you can find someone to talk to other than a recording, and they will probably say it was done before their time and they can’t do anything about it. After all, we’re only talking about a little thing like being taxed out of a home.
It would seem the only body who can help create some equity in the property tax situation is the state Legislature, and they don’t bother with anything more significant than fighting with the opposing political party. Perhaps at election time each party will allow the other side, on a reciprocating basis of course, to quote a few “look-what-I’ve-done’s” for election propaganda. Nowhere in their arsenal of power and authority is there room for common sense.
The Legislature isn’t going to give up one bit of revenue. They seem to think all our money is theirs and they can make whatever laws they want to get it.
Many of us have worked and paid on mortgages for years, have invested in property which was to have been the lion’s share of our retirement, only to find that the Legislature and local government, under the guise of protecting us, have raised taxes and created land-use restrictions to the point that the property is virtually useless.
Don’t blame the assessor though, after all, your property is now worth many times what you paid for it. You’d sell it for that, wouldn’t you? So the appraiser would say. But then what could you buy with the money? Nothing comparable, only something lesser. Don’t blame the assessor, blame the Legislature, but only if your lobbyist has more money than theirs.
Marysville
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