Murray Sabrin , “property taxes are coercive levies on citizens to pay for schools, roads, police and other activities of local governments”

I sent the following letter to The Record the other day about property taxes.

Regarding “Property taxes as charity debated” (Page 1A, January 15″):

The article unwittingly highlights the intellectual confusion – and bankruptcy – of the tax debate in America. First, property taxes are coercive levies on citizens to pay for schools, roads, police and other activities of local governments. In other words, homeowners have no choice but to pay for services they may not want nor “consume” in their local community.

Second, charitable contributions are voluntary payments to organizations that the donor believes is meeting a noble goal. Nonprofit organizations have a long history of serving the needs of people going back to colonial times. It is this ethos that is one of the foundations of America’s experiment as a limited government Republic.
However, since the Great Depression the welfare state has expanded exponentially “crowding out” organizations that provided unemployment insurance, life insurance, medical insurance and other vital services for their members before the economy’s implosion in the 1930s.

The new tax law places a $10,000 cap on the amount of property and state and local income taxes taxpayers can deduct on their federal tax return. This restriction obviously increases the federal tax burden of taxpayers who live in New Jersey and other high tax states.

The solution is crystal clear: abolish the federal income tax and have local services paid for just as we pay for cable TV, Internet access, cell phones and other services people want for themselves and their families, by voluntary exchange. This would reduce the vast coercion government exerts over its citizens.

Murray Sabrin Ramapo College Professor of Finance · 1985 to present · Mahwah, New Jersey