These taxes are making me sick!

Well, at least something is. I'm currently in the hospital. I'll return to posting when I get out.

Ed

Update: I'm out and extremely busy trying to get caught up with events, life etc. I'll resume posting soon. I promise.

Irony

In 1215 AD a group of disgruntled Barons forced King John of England to sign The Great Charter, or Magna Carta, if you will. The Magna Carta restricted the King's powers forcing him to be more observant of the will of those he governed. There were many reason's for the Baron's dissatisfaction with the King. Among these were his excommunication by Pope Innocent III and disastrous defeats in his ongoing war with France, which resulted in the loss of the provinces of Brittany and Normandy, among others. Theses losses forced King John to continuously raise taxes. Finally, the Baron's had had enough. They revolted and forced John to sign away his some of his power. Thus, in many ways the signing of the Magna Carta was partially the result of a tax revolt.

The signing took place in a marshy piece of land near London, on the Thames, called Runnymede.

Now comes the irony.

In April of 2004, my wife and I were house hunting and looking for our first real home. We had looked at many houses, but none seemed appropriate. An acquaintance of my wife told her about an available house in the Cottage Home Neighborhood on the city's Near East Side. She went to see it and realized that it was what we'd been looking for. Thus, we came to reside at 1215 Polk St, a rehabilitated Victorian cottage built in 1893.

The gentlemen we purchased the house from were expatriate Britons. Having an appreciation for British history, they saw the connection between the street number and the year of the signing of the Magna Carta. Thus, they came to christen the house "Runnymede Cottage"

My wife and I now stand in danger of losing our "Runnymede" due to a system of outrageous taxation.

It is up to the the new Barons of Indiana, the people, to rise up with a unified voice and demand from our legislator's that this broken system be scrapped. The system of assessing and taxing property is damaged beyond repair. Repeal all property taxation.

It's on to the Statehouse and let's win there!

A paraphrase of the last public words of Robert F Kennedy. It was the day of the 1968 California presidential primary. Kennedy had just won that state's votes for the upcoming Democratic nominating convention in Chicago. He ended his victory speech by saying, "It's on to Chicago and let's win there." Minutes later he lie mortally wounded in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, the people spoke and took back control of the city of Indianapolis from those who would use their positions of public trust to further their own enrichment and aggrandisement.

Now comes the true test of our resolve, confronting the state legislature. We must begin again the long and arduous task of ensuring that these elected public servants realize that it is the people that they serve and it is to the people they must answer. If we are to win permanent release from the burden of unbearable property taxes, then we must be deserving of that victory. We must fight for our cause. We must gather together and petition the legislature. We must organize and demonstrate our resolve.

We can begin this task on Nov. 20th when the legislature meets to organize for the upcoming legislative session. These are the points I suggest we focus upon:

1. The consolidation of township government with county government, i.e. the elimination of the township structures.
2. A constitutional amendment repealing, once and for all, the taxing of property in Indiana.
3. The replacement of property taxes with a 2% increase in sales tax, a 2% increase in personal income tax, and a 2% increase in the corporate income tax. (Dr. Styring's plan)
4. Mandatory referendums for capital spending projects.
5. Moving school board elections to the fall general election.

I welcome other viewpoints and suggestions for this list, but let us not be lax, time moves quickly and Nov. 20th will arrive without our adequate preparation. Therefore, I call upon all good Hoosiers, who in this time of need recognize that danger that the current taxation system poses to our state, to gather on the 20th of November, 2007 at the Statehouse to welcome our elected officials back to Indianapolis with the reminder that they can ignore the will of the electorate only at the peril of their political careers.

The Beast Will Still Get Fed

On this morning's broadcast, one of Abdul's callers brought up the issue of sheriff's sales and foreclosures not being included in process to determine the "Fair Market Value" for property tax reassessments. This got me to pondering whether or not this would have made an overall difference. The answer is, no, it would not.

Take for example my immediate area. There have been virtually no foreclosures or sheriff's sales (that could well change next April). Thus, there would be no change in assessed values. In areas that have experienced these events, assessed valuation would decrease.

Now here's the rub. The beast still must be fed. The total tax levy will not change. Therefore, to make up for the loss in property values, the tax rate must increase. Home owner's living in areas where everyone is making their mortgage payments and doing that which is right will end up with an even larger bill than before to compensate. Fair? No.

The only solution to the inequities that the system introduces is the elimination of the system and its replacement with a combination of sales and income taxes.

Goose and Gander

The new ads by the local Democratic Machine raise some interesting questions. These ads are being classified as attack ads by many observers not affiliated with the Dems. However, Peterson's campaign has gone to great length to declare that these are not attack ads. Witness the following quote which appeared in this morning's Indy Star.

"It's not a negative ad," said Michael O'Connor, Peterson's campaign manager. "We don't attack character. There's nothing in the ad that isn't a direct quote from the Star endorsement."

Since the Peterson Campaign believes so strongly in the gospel according to Ryerson, one must assume that they are quite happy with the Star's endorsement of a Republican controlled City-County Council.