Property Taxes Pave the Road to Serfdom

Michael Bargo Jr. / American Thinker

Under the feudal system of the middle ages, a serf was an agricultural laborer who was bound to work on his lord’s estate. The lord owned the land, and the laborer had no choice but to live on the lord’s property and hand a significant amount of the fruits of his/her labor over to the lord.

A similar, but more subtle, system exists today in counties throughout the United States. Homeowners and owners of farmland are bound to pay property taxes to the County Assessor. And if they don’t pay the property taxes, the assessor has the legal right — which they essentially gave themselves — to take the property away. The names of the local officials may not be on the deed to your house, but since they have the legal authority to seize it from you, the result is the same.

This seemed reasonable as long as the property taxes were reasonable. But as Americans have had their wages and benefits reduced, the public sector workers, whether they are unionized or not, continue to enjoy the privilege of raising property and other taxes so that their benefits, salaries, and pensions are not reduced. Teachers’ unions, SEIU workers, and AFSCME workers make all or much of their income through property tax assessments. And interestingly, all give most of their money to the Democratic Party, who, since they run most urban areas of the U.S. and receive this money, are then largely responsible for the high property taxes forced upon middle class Americans.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/property_taxes_pave_the_road_to_serfdom.html#ixzz2r92ALYsv 
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