“Politics is bad enough in any shape but it shouldn’t get around to manhandling the destitute.” — Martha Gellhorn. But that doesn’t stop conservatives (and sometimes non-conservatives) from trying. After all it’s much easier to punch down than go after the rich.
For example Florida Republican Rep. Ryan Chamberlin wants to eliminate property taxes as a revenue source in favor of a higher sales tax. According to Chamberlin, property taxes “create an arrangement under which homeowners never truly own their domiciles. We all simply rent it from the state, and as long as we pay those rents, then we can use the property we hold a deed for,” he said. “This is not a tax; it is slavery.””
Well, no, it isn’t. Right-wingers have been thumping taxation=slavery for decades but it isn’t. If Chamberlin sells his house and moves in with family, nobody’s going to come ordering him to buy real estate and pay tax again. Taxation is coercive, yes, but not slavery. Slaves didn’t have options.
And if property tax is slavery, why isn’t just as oppressive to be forced to pay tax every time you buy something that isn’t exempt (as food is)? The answer, of course, is that sales tax hits much harder at the working class and poor than the rich whereas rich McMansion owners feel much more pain from property tax. Chamberlin referring to it as “consumption tax” is presumably meant to hide that, making it sound as if it’s some kind of punishment inflicted on spendthrifts. It isn’t. And several legislators have pointed out it’s a bad economic idea.
If Chamberlin is concerned about homeowners losing their property, he could always fix the home insurance crisis. But well-connected business people are making bank off that so I don’t anticipate Chamberlin or anyone else doing the (in fairness extremely) hard work needed to fix things.
Overdraft fees hit the poor hardest too, which is why I’m glad the Biden Administration is moving to limit them.
