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Why do property taxes even exist? It makes absolutely no sense to tax a person based on the value of what they own. That value doesn’t imply anything about the owner’s ability to pay the tax. That value only provides cash to the owner when it’s sold, not while it’s simply owned. The owner has no control over that valuation, over what someone else might pay for it if it was even up for sale.
Two people, equal incomes, one improves his home, one gambles away his money. Who pays more tax? Unfortunately, the conscientious one. Does that make sense, any sense at all? I think not.
The only rational basis for a tax is the person’s income.
Roger Garrett
Kapahulu
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