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The state sales tax increased by a penny Friday, up to 6 cents on the dollar. The change is part of a larger tax package passed by the General Assembly last June. The extra cent in tax will pay to remove school operating costs from homeowners' property taxes - a roughly 50% cut - beginning with tax bills due in January. Most of the state's 46 counties already levy at least one extra penny sales tax on top of the state's 5 cents on the dollar, meaning shoppers will pay 7 cents or 8 cents on the dollar across much of the state. link

I think property taxes should have been completely eliminated, in favor of a 2c sales tax increase. I fear by not eliminating the property tax, we will see future increases in millage rates which will offset these gains. Property tax, in and of itself, is unconstitutional and removes any vestige of true property ownership by a citizen. As long as there are property taxes, we actually own nothing. We simply pay our government, what amounts to rent, to be able to pretend we truly own something.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

If they remove it, it should be done by a Constitutional Amendment. Hard to do but also VERY hard to undo.
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You can't hold a liberal responsible for their words because it's character assassination.

I agree that it is hard to feel like you own property when you have to keep paying government for the privilege of owning it.

Some people are 'land poor' and can't afford to pay the taxes on the land they own, or struggle to do so.

I am also against inheritance taxes.

Perhaps there should be a movement to get them to show where these taxes are even Constitutional in the first place?

Ask the former inhabitants of Daufuskie Island about how property taxes can be use against you. Instead of including the original land owners, who owned the land for generations, in on the bounties of yankee dollars they were forced out because of excessive increases in their property taxes. Exact same tactic the carpetbaggers used on the land owners during "reconstruction".
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You can't hold a liberal responsible for their words because it's character assassination.

Nothing is more permanent than a temporary tax increase

Nothing is more temporary than a permanent tax cut
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Quote:

Perhaps there should be a movement to get them to show where these taxes are even Constitutional in the first place?

That would be a good place to start.
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I completely agree with GW, they should raise the sales tax and do away with property taxes.

Strider wrote:

I completely agree with GW, they should raise the sales tax and do away with property taxes.

Isn't that the way it is in Fla. or is that only state taxes?
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

I'd have no problem with increase sales tax if they killed prop tax. It would be based on consumption. As is, you can't "Own" your land, you're renting from the taxing authority. Some old couple retired on a fix income paid for their lands 50 years ago could not pay the taxes on it if some high dollar development settled in across the street and their rates go up. If you owe nothing on your lands/house you should pay nothing in taxes on the same property. Wouldn't that encourage less debt also?
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You can't hold a liberal responsible for their words because it's character assassination.