Commentary: Untaxed property is not the issue in tax crisis

Of all the films in the John McClain saga, Die Hard With A Vengeance has perhaps the best developed plot. In the film, McClain and the NYPD are led on several goose chases, framed by riddles, in order to prevent terrorist attacks. When McClain confronts a Manhattan youth trying to steal from a street vendor, he realizes that these riddles and goose chases were simply a ruse to distract law enforcement while the terrorists stole gold from the federal reserve bank.

We couldn't help but think of this scene while contemplating the recent hullabaloo over untaxed property in Marion County. On Sunday, the Indianapolis Star ran an article revealing there is $2.7 billion in untaxed property in the county. Most of this property belongs to churches and non-profits, with the rest belonging to property in TIF districts. Over the next few days, several of our fellow bloggers weighed in, essentially calling for the taxation of churches and non-profits or service fees for using police and fire services.

It's not hard to see how we got to this point in the debate. Since the property tax crisis exploded, our local leaders, especially Mayor Peterson, have tried to point the finger and blame others for the crisis, saying its not their fault. It soon comes out that the recent assessment by the county and township assessors placed a very heavy burden on residential homeowners, which we would agree is not fair. So the finger-pointers took to suggestions on why the assessment pounded homeowners, throwing out a myriad of suggestions, the latest being that we do not tax churches and non-profits in Marion County.

What does this all have to do with a Bruce Willis action movie? The German-lead terrorists in that film knew of a valuable strategy: if you occupy everyone with a side distraction, you can pretty much get away with anything. That is where we are: politicians and the media are throwing out many ways for us to argue about who is supposed to be paying the fair share of the tax bill. The question we are being distracted from is "why is the tax bill what it is anyways?"

Whether in college political science or even high school sociology, students learn of the concept of social contract. If we are truly free, why on earth would we submit ourself to being governed and paying taxes? Because our lives, families, and property are at risk without order and protection. We are willing to submit to government so we do not lose what we hold dear in the throngs of anarchy. But the key to this is that we are kept safe.

We cannot support public safety service fees because if anything, the one service government should provide is public safety. Marion County should be no different, and trust us, if our city felt truly safe and that their tax dollars were well spent, there would be nowhere near the uproar there is with the recent tax protests. We have a Mayor and County government that raise their budgets every year. What we get in return is primary elections where polls don't open, politicians who don't follow the rules or even live in their districts, weird signs downtown of lighted abstract swinging people, and solar powered garbage cans. And on top of this, the top priority of government, keeping its citizens safe, is not being met because of rising crime and an understaffed IMPD.

We do not necessarily disagree with such proposals as the supply side "expand the base, lower the rate." We don't disagree with a healthy public discourse of all possible options to the situation. But when we know our government is not lean and wastes money on frivolous projects while failing to adequately provide basic services, we need to address other issues before we should worry about taxing churches and food pantries.

Comments

[varangianguard]

Good catch. I'm glad somebody is on the ball. I certainly missed it. :(

[Jezla]

Excellent post. Local government cannot get much lower, and the Star is helping them along. I can't understand why the county Republican Party isn't all over this. They's got a golden opportunity to sweep the elections this year, and their sitting on their duffs.

[Questioner]

I did not see any reference to TIF districts in the article. TIF districts support, almost entirely, FOR-PROFIT arrangements which divert property tax money away from legitimate government expenses. In addition to that a recent article in the same paper presented a total of nearly $800 million in tax abatements given FOR-PROFIT businesses.

[The Polis]

We would agree that abatements need much more scrutiny. It may have been another blogger who brought TIFs into the conversation. Our commentary did not absole those two arrangements of any responsibilty. We simply believe that the current economic situation does not justify taxing religious organizations and other non-profits.

[Josh]

This was a great piece. I hope that you don't mind that I copied and pasted it in a post over at Hoosier Access. I gave you full credit.

I was wondering if you'd consider becoming a contributor to our site. Let me know if you're interested.

http://hoosieraccess.com/contact/

Btw, thanks for putting a link to Hoosier Access on your site.

[Kristen Luidhardt]

What a great post! I only wish I had gotten around to reading it sooner. Well done, and please keep it coming!

[Melyssa]

I loved the editorial. I'm linking it to the HOOSIERS FOR FAIR TAXATION blog.

[Citizen Jane]

Appreciate and agree with your comments. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of diversions these days for those of us who are following state and local government news.

What's most saddening is that the majority of people in this city are happily wearing their blinders and doing business as usual. I cannot think what it will take to get people to WAKE UP! Our homes, our city, our very livelihoods are at stake!

Do we need some sort of horrific, 9-11 type of tragedy to get the citizenry's attention? If not you, who? If not now, when? Think of someone besides yourself...you'll be surprised and amazed at what you CAN do if you just take the first step.