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This article by Bill Bodden of Redmond was published on line by The Oregonian on August 9, 2004 Robert Landauer’s column of July 25 (More could use property tax deferral) identifies available relief for low-income people unable to pay their property taxes. But we must look beyond this fix that postpones the day when the tax bill comes due with usurious interest charges added. The required solution is to relieve people living in poverty from all taxes particularly when they are unfair. Property taxes on people with low-incomes are unfair and punishing. They also expose the hypocrisy of our legislators. Years ago, after daily incantations of "with liberty and justice for all" a majority of legislators in Salem passed laws to benefit the building industry by limiting the amount of system development charges (SDCs) that cities could collect to pay for infrastructure costs caused by growth. Making matters worse, these legislators prohibited collection of any SDCs for schools. People with no responsibility for creating these costs became the victims of injustice stuck with paying the inevitable bills. Growth demands expanded roads and traffic control systems, sewage handling plants and lines, police, fire and other services, and new schools. The difference between SDCs and total costs becomes a subsidy charged as property taxes to homeowners whether they can afford them or not. In many cases, these homeowners will already have spent decades paying for existing schools and roads, yet they will continue to be asked to pay for more even though they have done nothing to contribute to such a need. Here in Redmond population forecasts suggest that 28,000 people will be added over the next 21 years. Based on numbers from the school bond passed by voters in March and school and population data, if current laws remaining in place property owners could be facing a new $36-million school bond every three years, or less, through 2025 or exist in a state of continual overcrowding comparable to what the latest school bond was supposed to relieve. Other cities face similar prospects. Subsidies for new infrastructures and services created by growth will be added to school bonds. Estimates indicate that each new home in Oregon eventually causes needs that cost from $15,000 to more than $40,000 depending on regions and communities. The difference between SDCs and real costs will be $10,000 or more that will be passed on to property owners as taxes. If a city opens 1,000 acres for development and allows four homes on each acre, the subsidy bill for all homeowners will be at least $40 million. The consequences for the poorest among us can be brutal. If they are already debating whether to buy prescription drugs or food, they will have to consider limiting purchases of what they could previously pay for. If we look at a city’s population as a whole, we will see that some of the wealthiest people, sometimes including buyers of vacation homes, are causing needs for expanded infrastructures and services while part of the bill is being passed to people in dire financial straits. In extreme cases, people will no longer be able to live in their own homes. This brings us back to the duplicity of some legislators who pledge to uphold the Constitution. The spirit of the Fourth Amendment indicates that people should be secure in their own homes, but if taxes force people out of their homes then that spirit is being violated. The next legislature must reverse this injustice by permitting cities to collect realistic and fair SDCs. Bill Bodden is a board member of Oregon Communities for a Voice in Annexation and Friends of Deschutes County |
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