Making taxes more unfair

Like most Iowans, we paid our property taxes a couple weeks ago. In the past three years, the taxes on our 90-year-old home have increased nearly 50%. The taxes on our modest metal Times Square office have nearly doubled in that time.

Our house, like most older residences, is a money pit. It requires constant maintenance over its nine decades: new windows, new kitchen, paint, plumbing, heating. It doesn’t generate a cent of revenue for us. It was a place to raise our family, and now that the kids are grown up and moved into their own money pits, we are left to keep it going on Social Security and a few bucks we’ve managed to save after 50+ years cranking out newspapers.

The property taxes keep climbing with no concern about the fact that the house generates no revenue to sustain itself.

Likewise, the taxes on our office keep rising with no regard to whether the business it houses is profitable or not.

The home and office may have appreciated in value, but that’s no value to us until we sell them. And they’re not for sale.

Unfortunately, things will get much worse for property taxpayers if the governor and her minions succeed in passing the proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution. It would require two-thirds approval of the Legislature to increase income taxes, but just simple majorities to lower them.

That would dramatically increase property taxes, sales taxes, license fees and myriad other charges in order to pay for our schools, public safety, roads, and all other government services because it would be nearly impossible to increase income taxes should that need arise. The Governor and Legislature have mismanaged Iowa into the red for the past several years with annual billion dollar budget deficits that now must be covered. If we keep cutting income taxes, increased property and sales taxes will have to take up the slack.

A family of four with an annual household income of $50,000 will spend all that on the necessities of life, leaving nothing to save at the end of the year.

On the other hand, a family of four with a household income of $1 million will spend the same $50,000 on necessities, but they’ll have $950,000 at the end of the year.

The income tax is the fairest way to generate revenue for government because it assesses people on the wealth they generate rather than assets which may or may not have value.

Property taxes go up regardless of your ability to pay. Property taxes don’t care if your business is profitable. Property taxes don’t care if your house needs paint.

Likewise, sales taxes don’t care that your kids are outgrowing their clothes.

Kansas tried this sort of thing a few years ago and it bankrupted the Sunflower State. Without income taxes, states have seen sales tax rates as high as 10.4%. This hits the working folks a lot harder than those with more disposable income.

Iowans can keep a lid on property taxes and sales taxes by rejecting the unwise constitutional amendment to limit income taxes.

It’s only fair.