Action Item: Property taxes in Michigan must be eliminated.
Every one deserves to be secure in the thought that their home will never be taken from them, that once it has been paid for, it belongs to them, not the government.
Property taxes take away people's security and their right to own property.
Presently the government rents our property to us and if we do not pay, the government takes our property away from us. In British aristocratic terms, we are 'tenants' on the land, paying both, for improvements to the land (our houses), and the leasing of the land itself (property taxes). We currently, do not own, our own land in Michigan.
Private property owned by the individual is a restraint on government. Paying property taxes to the government is incentive for government abuse and wasteful spending. When the government thinks it needs more money, all they have to do is 'take it', as increasing property taxes requires little work on behalf of the government.
In addition to ensuring individual property rights and restraining government, elimination of property taxes would benefit existing business, attract new business and create more jobs.
To eliminate any future temptation on the part of the government to re-instate property taxes, forbidding the government to tax property should be made part of the Michigan State Constitution.
Some will worry that the immediate elimination of property taxes will hurt our schools and other programs. For these people it should be remembered that most property today does not generate money to pay taxes. Most people, for example, pay the property tax on their homes with income they receive from their job. Careful deliberation by the legislature could easily transfer the burden to other existing taxes to be sure that no legitimate purpose of government was adversely impacted.
Constitution Party of Michigan - www.ConstitutionPartyMI.net