In reply to Tony Anton's letter published on Monday, I do not agree that we need to eliminate the real estate tax. I see this whole movement as an attempt to shift taxes away from well-to-do people to poor and middle-income people. As I have stated before, the cities and county have budgets that voters have elected them to oversee. Those budgets have to be paid for by taxes. Eliminating property taxes does nothing to do away with the dollars needed to run cities and counties, it just means it will come from other taxes. Who will pay those taxes?
I think one clue comes from the rumor that lakefront property owners have put together a slush fund totaling several million dollars to lower or do away with property taxes. Now would you spend that kind of money if you knew that you still had to pay the same amount in income tax? Are you aware that large corporations own property on Wawasee Lake that they keep for clients and management to use? Eliminate property taxes and that money is gone and working folks will have to make it up. Are we going to be able to tax the incomes of people from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, or for that matter, Muncie, who have property here? Have you heard the income tax rates you will have to pay to make up for property taxes? I have heard as high as 10 percent or more.
Finally, for destitute seniors who will loose their property due to property taxes, there should be tax relief. But I cannot picture someone who is sitting on half a million dollars or more in assets as poverty stricken. Maybe they should visit the AARP Web site and check out reverse mortgages if they cannot come up with the money to pay their taxes. Just because you are elderly it does not mean you are absolved of helping to pay for the services you use. I know of many seniors who have to work past retirement to be able to afford health care, do you want to place additional taxes on them to give relief to the lakefront property owners?
