“It's the Most Pernicious Time of the Year”

To the tune of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

It's the most pernicious time of the year.
The tax man is coming,
The bills are mind-numbing,
And if you're in arrears,
The government will throw you out on your rear! 

With January rapidly approaching, so is tax season. So while this may not be very Christmassy, it is certainly seasonal. In this vein, there is one tax in particular that, in my estimation, is the most pernicious of them all.

Yes, the income tax is anathema to good government, as Jefferson posited:

Still one thing more, fellow citizens, a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

Thomas Jefferson - First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1801

Yet there is a tax even more loathsome than income tax.

If private property ownership is the beginning of liberty, then property tax is liberty's end. While many believe they own their homes, so long as that owned property is annually taxed, the property-owner is in actuality a property-lessee. You read that correctly. You will never own your home so long as the government taxes it. You are the renter; the government is the landlord. And if you fail to pay your rent...

If you are required to pay tax on your property under threat of foreclosure for non-payment, you do not own it - the government does. You simply pay them for the privilege of using it. Isn’t that a heartwarming thought? As hideous an idea as that is, it is nonetheless true. Whether the value goes up or the value goes down, the State will extract its yearly pound of flesh.

What's worse is that, in many places, these property taxes are levied without representation. Elected school board members may set some rates, and elected local or state officials may set others, but who assesses the value of the house and/or land against which those rates are applied? I can't speak for every state, but my locality has what is called an "appraisal district."

The appraisal district is comprised of unelected employees. If they are unelected, how are these people empowered to determine your taxation? Whatever happened to “no taxation without representation”? I seem to recall a rather large tea party with regard to this issue, and I don’t believe it involved a cup of Earl Gray and crumpets with the Queen. The hangovers from that party led to armed conflict.

According to my local appraisal district’s website, "Our two main responsibilities are to assess property at its full market value every year and to administer exemptions. We work diligently to accurately appraise properties fairly and equitably." These valuations are generally accomplished without ever setting foot on the property. How then can they possibly be "fair" or "equitable"? How do these unelected “officials” know if you need to have your whole house re-plumbed because of your aging pipes? Do they know if your roof or hardwood floor needs replacement? Maybe your house needs a new electrical panel. On what basis are they valuing the house? Market value of comparably-sized homes in the neighborhood? What other maintenance is lacking that would prevent you finding a market-value buyer if you wished to sell? 

You can contest the appraised value, but then you may also end up with a valuation lower than similar homes in the area. That will save you on taxes, but how does it affect your ability to sell, or the price you are able to ask, if you decide to vacate?

Perhaps most heinous is the perpetual propitiation that must be made to the potentate. You pay tax on the property when you first purchase it. You pay property tax for every year in which you “own” that property. And guess what? You pay tax on any increase in value you receive on the sale of the property. They get you coming and going - literally - and every year in between.

Amazing that the government will declare eviction amnesty for renters and force landlords to forgo collecting rent during a “pandemic”. Do you think the State stopped collecting property tax during that same time? And what happens if you don’t pay? You’ll be out on your rear.

James Madison said to the Virginia Convention in 1829:

It is sufficiently obvious, that Persons and Property, are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act: and that the rights of persons, and the rights of property are the objects for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot well be separated. The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property when acquired a right to protection as a social right. The essence of Government is power; and power lodged as it must be, in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

James Madison, Speech in Virginian Convention, 2 December 1829

When government hires unelected persons to assess property values, government is no longer protecting our property rights or our right to representation for taxation. It is an endless cycle and an abominable affront to one of the primary principles on which liberty rests: private property ownership. Owning property is one of the main methods by which families create generational “wealth” to be passed on to children and grandchildren, and property tax essentially eliminates private property ownership. So long as we submit ourselves to this scandalous surtax, we can never truly be free. As John Adams wrote, “Property must be secured, or freedom cannot exist” (Discourses on Davila No. 14).