Capping property taxes: Good or bad for schools?

[BoberFett]

Also, not sure where you learned about the free market, but I don't recall taxes ever being taught as a way to support a free market.

Of course they are. Where else are we going to get money to build Free Market sports stadiums?

 

[highland145]

Of course they are. Where else are we going to get money to build Free Market sports stadiums?

Our county school board voted to take funds to help pay for a new stadium/hotel/etc ($130M) for a farm team and they're putting a 1 cent sales tax increase on the next ballot for.....education. WTF is wrong with people? Someone is getting their pocket lined big time.

 

[Zorba]

It's not just schools - libraries are often affected as well; such is the case where I work. A 10-year .88 mill was approved by voters in 2004. A couple years later the bottom drops out of the housing market and correspondingly the property tax base drops as well, so that the .88 that is levied is now bringing in far less than it was in 2004, with no way to change it until this year. The property tax base (in this area) still hasn't recovered sufficiently, meaning we have to approach the voters with a higher millage value just to get the same funding we had 10 years ago. Crazy.

I know on these forums people have talked about some states being revenue neutral, or only allowing a small gain, on property tax year to year, basically having a floating millage rate. This seems like the best solution to me. Schools and locale governments shouldn't be awash in money just because housing is doing well, and they shouldn't go broke just because it is doing poorly.