Letter to the Editor

Rumors of a major incoming property tax hike have been bandied about in the past weeks, and for a lot of homeowners around here, that’s devastating news. Especially for those who’re already struggling with higher costs of living in every sector of life, children and mortgage payments included. Political talking heads and pundits blame incompetency on the last administration for all the inflation and outright economic fallout we’ve experienced. The stark rises in food prices, energy bills, gas and rent. I find that incredibly generous to blame all of this solely on incompetency.
    
    This has all been done by design, in my view. It’s not some coinkydink of whoopsie daisies and misplaced good intentions. I’d even take it a step further and say you’d be hard pressed to convince me that taxing us on not just our labor, but our property is nothing short of communism, centuries in the works. To whit: “Taxes are the source of life for the bureaucracy, the army and the court, in short, for the whole apparatus of the executive power. Strong government and heavy taxes are identical.” -Karl Marx. Or how about this beauty. “There is only one way to kill Capitalism – by taxes, taxes, and more taxes.”

    This leads me to my next question. How on God’s green earth is it remotely constitutional and lawful to tax someone for something they supposedly already own, free and clear? It’s one thing to pay taxes on houses and land. But our vehicles and pets too? What’s next, my shoes? My toothbrush and toothpaste? The pillow I sleep on? My Hardee’s “Rise and Shine” coffee mug I’ve had since 1985?

    Proponents of this longstanding practice will tell us it’s how we pay for schools, and police, the fire department, libraries and roads, water and sewage. Fine. I’m all for for basic societal needs. But this needs to be implemented differently, via a flat tax on nonessential goods and tariffs as president Trump is proposing.
    
    What are property taxes, really, but paying rent on the king’s land like peasants for the privilege of pretending we actually own something? And I don’t even blame our elected officials and sheriffs for enforcing this craziness. Through years of legislative incrementalism they’ve been slowly sleepwalked into this as much as anyone else. And I’m willing to wager they don’t like ponying up to this insanity anymore than you or I. They’re simply where the rubber meets the road.

    But the bottom line is this kind of graduated taxation leads ultimately to gentrification, raised rents, and lower income families being forced to sell their homes and move elsewhere because wealthier outsiders understandably buy up property like gangbusters, to which then local governments feel justified in arbitrarily reevaluating our homes and charging us accordingly. It’s time for everyone to show up at town and county meetings and at least start honest discussions about this. Forcing people to pay, in perpetuity, for something they’ve already bought is ridiculous on it’s face and grotesquely obscene.


Christopher Phares
Thomas, WV