The Repeal Point of View
by Chris Spangle ~ February 27th, 2008
I’ve asked Dave Bond of STOP IN to explain their effort to repeal property taxes, as well as bond debt:
Repeal: The real dealProperty taxes are a feudal holdover from old Europe (barons, serfs, Bayou Tapestry, Battle of Hastiness, imperial crap), in diametric conflict with free market economics, due to the absence of any transactional standard. There is no market value system other than the market itself. Buyers and sellers are the only legitimate arbiters of value, which is a transactional reality (an actual sale) and not the guess work of any illegitimately imposed, non-risk bearing, disinterested party (government).
Municipal bonds are a debt instrument or funding mechanism, frequently used to collateralize public development or expansion projects, like sewers, libraries, schools, etc. Indiana law has established caps on the amount of bond indebtedness, to protect tax payers from an undue burden. However, niche law, banking and development, routinely work around these protections; by creating essentially fictional but related entities (school building corporations, etc.), engaged in funky lease arrangements to elude the spirit and purpose of these caps (law). In Marion County for example, an estimated 10% of the bond debt is leveraged directly against the cap, while 90% is lease related. Ain’t that some shift !?! It’s bull shift if you ask me.
It’s also useful to do a search of: Indiana bond debt limit, case law and you’ll find several articles that illuminate the problem. The following is a link worth checking out:
