Here & There Column 6-10-08

Klatsch Talks About Property Tax Cap

Taxes and government are always favorite topics at our Sullivan County Coffee Klatsch which is made up of seven retired Democrats, Republicans and one Independent and the topic of a proposed property tax cap got some interesting discussion going last week.
As we got to brewing our delicious coffee which we do from scratch with grinding the beans and all and mixing up the dough for our home made donuts several in our klatsch said they really didn't think too highly of the new proposal brought forth by a governor appointed panel which is calling for a limit on property tax as one of several ways to stop the ever increasing property taxes.
As we got into our first cup of coffee one of our members said he felt that everyone in New York State is more then struggling to pay rising property taxes but that he was more in favor of using government consolidation as the mechanism that can reduce numbers of local government units.
The majority of our group voiced the opinion that tax control or a limit on how high taxes can be raised just gives government the right to raise property taxes a small percentage each year and does not go to the heart of the problem which is New York property taxes are 79 percent above the national average.
One of our members noted as we got into the second cup of java that everyone who lives in New York State wants much needed reform on rising property taxes and folks can no longer put up with ever increasing property taxes.
Several of our klatsch members agreed that there has been too much lip service to the topic of tax control and that politicians everywhere say they are going to keep taxes down but never follow through on their political promises.
As we got into our third cup of coffee our klatsch agreed that local government and school districts think they are pulling the wool over our eyes by only announcing small yearly tax increases.
We all feel very strongly that this proposal calling for a limit on property tax rates is again nothing more than political BS and serious studies by all municipalities and school districts should focus on consolidation which can lead to expanding the present tax base and a reduction in property taxes.