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I don’t think any of us should have to “Pay Rent” to the government (local , state or federal) for our property we buy and live in especially people over 65 should not have to pay any property tax on their primary residence.
Why
You’re not paying rent – you’re paying for services. You may not use those services, such as schools if you’re a senior, but most US citizens aren’t using that new fighter plane that the Air Force is building either.
Braun should also consider income when proposing to cap property taxes. There are lot of elderly with significant incomes from investments, who may not need this assistance.
The public services that sustain that home and the society around that home don’t go away when the mortgage is paid. That’s ridiculous.
I’ve never understood the correlation between property tax and whether or not you own your house free and clear of a home loan. Once I’ve paid off my house, I’ll still have the same need for police, fire protection and other government services that I had when I was making monthly payments to my lender. I do agree something needs to be done about the assessment process. Your property tax bill shouldn’t automatically go up just because a couple of your neighbors sold their homes for more than you paid for yours years ago.
Seniors don’t want to pay their fair share because they’ll be dead long before the adverse effects are really help. Maybe they should spend some time thinking about the pain they will inflict on their kids and grandkids
The idea that seniors “don’t want to pay their fair share” ignores the reality that many of them already have — for decades. Someone who bought a home 30 years ago has likely paid tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in property taxes over their lifetime while also paying income taxes, sales taxes, Social Security taxes, and often helping fund schools long after their own children graduated.
What changes as people age is not their responsibility — it’s their income. Many seniors are living on fixed retirement income while property taxes continue to rise dramatically around them. A retired couple who bought a modest home decades ago can suddenly find themselves struggling to keep the very home they already spent a lifetime paying for.
Wanting seniors to avoid being taxed out of their homes is not selfishness. It’s recognizing that people who worked, paid taxes, raised families, and contributed to their communities should not lose financial stability simply because they got older.
And many seniors are thinking about their kids and grandkids. They are often helping support them financially, caring for grandchildren, and trying to preserve family homes and generational stability in an economy that has become increasingly difficult for younger people as well.
This is not about refusing to contribute. It’s about balancing tax policy with fairness, economic reality, and basic dignity for people who already carried the tax burden for most of their adult lives.
Yeah, Paul, that’s why you can sell and/or taking out an HELOC. Cry me a river.
You don’t get to outlive your means just because you’re old.
“Seniors don’t want to pay their fair share” Hey 70 year old who has worked and paid taxes your entire life, Micheal thinks you will be dead soon and should think about the “pain you will inflict on your kids”
Unless Joe B has changed his screen name, Nate’s Flock has a new Team Leader.
Paul, if someone buys a home they can’t afford, they should move. I bet that would be your exact response if this article was about giving new home owners a tax break. If you don’t want to pay so much in taxes, downsize or even better, rent. You’ve already locked in generational wealth just in the equity you’ll get on your home. You’ll be fine.
If you didn’t plant ahead to be able to afford your home in retirement then sell it and rent. Easy solution
This idea that the government is somehow obligated to affirm consumer choices is beyond me.
I don’t have a major issue with property taxes, although I do question how some of the dollars are used. If I were a teacher, I would not be very happy with the union because time after time, referendum dollars go heavily towards more and more grand bricks and mortar and proportionately very little to teacher pay and benefits. Students benefit more from quality teachers than they do from beautiful massive entrances to the school building. Give the teachers more and school building contractors less.
I’m 73 and the recent “property tax relief” resulted in a 6% increase due to higher assessment values. I don’t believe is special relief for the elderly. I believe is starting to assess why we keep building school palaces and test scores are not that great! It’s time to give parents complete control by giving them vouchers to use at any school they choose, private or public. With that, public schools should be able to say “No” to students also and if there’s a troubled kid, send them to a military-style alternative.
Vouchers and charters have been an immense failure. Ban them and fully fund public schools.
If Seniors are 65+ / fully retired / on documented SS and Medicaid (pretty easy to know) – Property Taxes should be at 50% deduction. That is a very fair start.
You should sell at least half your house.
When their house burns down or is robbed they can get private police or private fire fighters then too
How is this fair
By no extent is this fair. 65+ are already supported by subsidized healthcare, discounted or free public services, social security, and a multitude of tax deductions. They don’t need to suddenly stop paying into the society which supports them. That’s just greed.
no thanks
Shrink the bloated government and get rid of fraud to start, then get rid of property taxes altogether.
Our schools are a joke. 4 Admin staff for every classroom teacher. No one wants to teach these ignorant kids, so they enlarge the Admin. Dept.
Indiana has the smallest-funded local governments in America. The idea that they are “bloated” is laughable.
Braun seems to be on the same path as another failed governor in Kansas who assumed the state could do more with less. Sam Brownback slashed taxes to the bone. An anti-tax zealot, he drove the state government off the cliff. The Sunflower state is still trying to claw its way back from the man-made disaster.
+1
Yup. This is exactly what is happening in Indiana, driven by the same lobbying group (ALEC). Their experiment failed in Kansas but they sure seem to think they can succeed by doing the same thing over and over again.
Judging by the comments on here not too many seniors commenting. As one I don’t mind paying my fair share and have for years. That said I do not think that relief for seniors is asking for a free ride. We have more than paid our ‘fair share’ kids or no kids for public schools. We still need our roads, police, and fire depts. What needs to be replaced is this arbitrary meothod of assessment and the damage it will do to those that are retired and on fixed incomes.
Secondary to that is the endless school referendums for schools which there is little choice in. Sure we feel compelled to vote for them as it is ‘for the children’ but I would suggest that referendums cannot come up but for a period of time, say 5 years before a new one is introduced. Perhaps schools could learn to live with a budget as we all do.
Jeffrey, I am a senior citizen, and happily pay property taxes to support our police and fire departments, our schools and teachers, our public infrastructure, and our aid to those who through no fault of their own need help to merely exist. It is our civic duty to pay our fair share. Granting some relief from this duty makes our communities less livable, and would result in the younger generations to move to other states for a better life. And that would be a shame…all because of the selfishness.
When’s the last time you stepped foot into a school
You benefit from an educated population. I’m so sick of Seniors spitting all over education and telling the kids to take a hike. Your generation is wildly greedy.
PAY. YOUR. TAXES.
Ah, typical (in the day( Tea Party mumbo jumbo. Not much has changed except that today’s costuming is awful.
So, 20% of our population is just going to live off of everyone else’s property taxes? F that.
Pay your fair share. The expenses of public services going to a home don’t stop when the mortgage is paid off.