Base property taxes on NYS Income tax
The idea of taxing people based on what their houses are worth is totally inane. An entire level of government has been created to empower an individual to make their best guess as to what a house is worth. There is no rhyme or reason to their decision except to look at what similar houses have sold for in the area. We all know that a house on one street can sell for thousands more than a similar house 3 streets away. ...more »
The idea of taxing people based on what their houses are worth is totally inane. An entire level of government has been created to empower an individual to make their best guess as to what a house is worth. There is no rhyme or reason to their decision except to look at what similar houses have sold for in the area. We all know that a house on one street can sell for thousands more than a similar house 3 streets away.
Why not tax people for school and county funds based on their income? The advantages of such a plan are as follows:
l It will eliminate the sometimes arbitrary assignment of value to someone's house and the office of tax assessor completely. It will eliminate assessment challenges and shrink the size of government while still bringing in the same amount of funds.
l It will allow for an expanded tax base, as now those who don't own property will also pay taxes. This will allow the overall tax paid/person to be lower. This is no different then making people pay now for streetlights or sewer service that aren’t available in their area.
l It will allow people to improve their residence without worrying about how it is going to affect their tax rate. This will encourage people in communities to keep their homes in better condition. When people are not taxed for improving their properties, they will spend more of their income on goods and services to achieve this result.
l It will eliminate the situations that senior citizens find themselves confronting - a much reduced income without a similar drop in property taxes. This will allow them to be able to stay in their houses longer, instead of having to move, possibly out of state, where they will pay no taxes to NY at all.
l It will eliminate the paperwork and bureaucracy involved in all the 'tax relief' giveback schemes that appear from time to time.
l It will eliminate, or perhaps reduce the need for the RPS- Real Property System, as well as all the rules and regulations involved in figuring out complex tax strategies in the NYS Real Property Tax Law.
The percentage charged would be placed in effect to try to approximate the current level of service. This percentage would then be applied to an individuals NY State income tax form to determine the amount of tax to be paid. Each county could have their own percentage. It would take a vote of the county legislature to change the percentage. The funds would be distributed according to formulas currently in effect for State aid for schools. County services would cost the same for each community.
I realize this proposal is not perfect, and details would have to be ironed out, especially for public, commercial and utility owned property. But I believe it would be a much fairer system than what we have now.
I have briefly read the S4239 bill, and while on the right track, I don't feel we should issue rebates. Why take the money at all? We can use a system already in place, the NYS Income Tax system, to calculate the percentages each year, and we don't need to set up another bureaucracy to track and issue rebate checks.
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