2/14/7  Property Tax by any other name is still a property tax.

What is going on? Is it an assault on the English language? Is it an attempt to ignore what the voters’ want in favor of doing just what the elected officials want to do?

First, it seems that tax reductions are called "spending" and that the spending cap needs to be increased.  How double speak can you get?  Reminds me of the time an energy company called me trying to get me to swap energy companies.  I asked them up front what they were selling.  “Oh, we aren't selling anything.”  I asked, “Oh are you going to give me my power for free?”  “No”  I replied, "Then you are selling something.”  My point is that we suffer enough from marketing polluting the language.  

Call it what it is, tax reductions not increased spending.

Second, the Dallas Morning News poll stated only 10% (“School Fix seem as temporary”, 2/13/7) seem to be concerned about property taxes.  I find this odd since last Spring a non-binding referendum was overwhelmingly passed favoring a cap on appraisal increases of 5% that the Republican Party has promised for several years.  I guess that DMN poll that covered only 802 respondents was more accurate than all the Republican voters who voted for this referendum in the 2006 primary.  I had to call my state representative to find the result of the referendum because it was NOT published in the DMN (who is responsible for this latest poll).

Of course, the voters don’t know what they want.  Is that not the attitude that you see with local government? I am sure the Dallas Independent School District agree the taxpayers just love their shenanigans as much as we love to pay for them with our tax dollars.  A long running series of events that have appeared in the news, scandal after scandal with no end in sight, nor any concern expressed by government entities that are above this local institution.  The problems are so entrenched they defy resolution.

“Oh well that’s the DISD for you”, as one trustee told me.

I further see local city governments, by their actions, appear to be more at war with their citizens than serving them.  

One example, police duties are minimal at best with the burden of their duties being shunted onto the citizens. One can only look at the “Verified Response” alarm policy that is in effect for business.  It was only averted from effecting residences by an overwhelming outcry by Dallas citizens.  It's a clue to our elected officials' attitude toward their citizens.  

Last year’s hearings in Austin concerning one property owner vs the police regarding crime in his area is another example of this shift of duties toward the citizen away from the police.  

A personal example of noise complaints was solved by a local city representative by giving me a copy of the noise code so that “next time it happens you can wave the ordinance in their faces”-  not by having the police do their duty.  It’s not their job.

Local government seems to be more in tune with moneyed interests like developers (constant tax abatements) than with the common citizen.  I have read others' opinions on local legislation that seems more at war with citizens than serving them.  I have read the DISD attitude towards their spending (on two separate occasions: the subsidized school uniforms and the demolition of portable buildings that have appeared in the news) as “not to worry we have plenty of bond money”.

All that I have seen and read in the news concerning these local governmental entities over the past several years, coupled with the fact that despite the present cap of 10% per year (a figure these entities cannot live within) limiting the value a home’s appraisal can be raised, forms and reaffirms my opinion that we must have a cap of 5% per year (or 1% if we get the mandatory disclosure of a home's sales price) as voters demanded last spring.

We should probably have a prohibition on lobbying by local governments to the Legislature using public monies.  We also need a statewide ban on tax abatements that local cities can grant developers.  We definitely need to strengthen ethics rules and disclosure for local elected officials.

In closing, it seems our elected officials are out of touch with reality and are hellbent on driving us out of our homes by ever increasing taxes coupled with their wastrel spendings.

Control yourselves and keep your hands off our homes.


David Tuthill