It’s For the Children
Well No, It’s Not!
By Daniel Muniz

When I opened up a letter from my county tax assessor which contained the annual appraisal of my house, I certainly got an eyeful. The appraised value leaped almost 20 percent even though my new house is about two years old. In the beginning, the assessor could only appraise the value of the unapproved lot because the house was still being constructed by my builder for part of the year. The next year the assessor did appraise the improved lot at a value that I believed was fair and reasonable and it did very much reflect the market rates of the neighborhood.

But this whopping increase in value for only one year infuriated me.

Politicians love to claim that they didn’t raise taxes and they will use such a bogus assertion as part of their campaign for reelection. On the surface, these statements are factual but blatantly misleading. By incessantly raising the value of your property, they can generate more tax revenue without ever having to raise taxes. Under this deception, everybody wins. Local politicians are able to pull a fast one on the public while appearing to have fiscal responsibility. The insatiable appetites of governmental bureaucracies are fed without asking for more money.

The only loser is the taxpayers but there are ways to make them feel good even though they are getting hosed.

My appraisal statement had a footnote that mentioned a mandated tax cut on my school taxes. For its size, it was a pretty good reduction that lowered my tax bill. So overall, it almost looked like the bogus but substantial increase in property value was a good trade off because the tax cut balanced it out. As a result, that slight decrease of total taxes was more than enough to bring a smile to some of my friends and neighbors.

And such reaction by homeowners also brings smiles to politicians and government bureaucrats because so many people can be duped by such nonsense.

To the politically uninitiated, what looks like a bargain on paper is actually a raw deal.

The harsh reality is that governmental budgets rarely, if ever, go down because they are constantly growing. The school districts didn’t lose any money either because my state raised all sorts of other taxes elsewhere to offset the loss. So in other words, the balloon still got squeezed but at the bottom instead of at the top.

To add insult to injury, the school districts also got a nice little bonus out of it too. All tax cuts are typically temporary in nature so that means that it won’t be long before the original rate is restored. So when that happens, I am going to get walloped with not only a higher tax rate but with taxes based on a much higher appraised value of my property which will cost me even more money. My friends and neighbors who thought that this tax cut/appraisal increase was a nice trade off will eventually get a rude awakening when the original tax rate is eventually restored.

But politicians have a secret weapon and I vividly saw it in place.

Many of my friends calmly explained to me that since our taxes are going to the children, then it is not so bad.

Again, such a mentality brings smiles to politicians. Not only are taxpayers getting railroaded with a sham tax scheme but they also have a warm and fuzzy feeling that they are contributing to the community and to the advancement of civilization. After all, it is our children who are getting our own tax money.

Well, here is the truth. Our children are not necessarily benefiting from more taxes. The taxpayer is definitely not contributing to the community but is lining the pockets of big construction companies and adding to the bloat of bureaucracies. Using this deception, school districts have embarked on a “Taj Mahal” mentality in which they are building grandiose structures and filling their curriculums with useless subjects. The campuses of elementary and middle schools are now beginning to look more like malls and fancy office buildings.

To our education system, it is irrelevant that Johnny cannot read or write as long as he has a golf coach and that he can see a play performed in an auditorium that has a million dollar lighting system in it.

And parents are part of this scam too. Many of them want their kids to go to these upscale schools that have abundant amenities. They want their children to have a tennis coach and many other luxuries that were non-existent generations ago when schools primarily focused on academics and didn’t mind failing under-achievers.

I don’t mind one bit that my taxes go to worthwhile causes but our education system definitely isn’t one of them.

As it stands, too many of our nation’s school districts are terrible stewards of our tax money. And much of our educational leadership feels that there is no such thing as a construction project that is too big and too expensive.

It is time to cut back on the largeness and focus our tax dollar on academics instead of expensive campus.

If we as a society can value the quality of the education more than we value an overpriced building made of reinforced concrete, then we can actually start solving the shortcomings of our academic problems and start raising standards. Until then, Johnny may not be able to read and write very well but he sure goes to a pretty school.

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