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Debra Medina on property rights and a move from property to sales taxes
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Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina
On Monday evening I had the double pleasure of attending my first Log Cabin Republicans meeting (and dispelling a world of biases!) and hearing Texas Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina speak. One of the major topics that Mrs. Medina spoke on was her stance on personal property rights and gun rights, which drew a strong, supportive applause from the attendees.
However, after asking her a question on the topic, and further discussing with Jerrod Atkinson, a big Ron Paul and Debra Medina supporter, afterwards, I am still not convinced that her position is the right one. First of all, it is a straight-up Libertarian position which holds to the philosophical belief that property taxes equate property ownership to "leasing" property from the government, not truly owning property outright.
Now, I should state for the record that I am somewhat Libertarian-leaning and am mistaken for a Ron Paul Republican all the time. The distinction that I draw, however, lies in the role of the State governments. Basically, within their own borders and for their own purposes and without interference by other States, the States may do pretty much anything they want to. Libertarians, in my opinion, have a hard time distinguishing one level of government from another, preferring as little government as possible, resulting in a borderline-anarchy approach to the role of government.
I differ.
Medina's contention was that we need to do away with property taxes of all kinds in the State and institute a system of sales and consumption taxes instead. My problem with this, first, is the fact that you give up local control over evaluation, appraisal of property and the assessment of taxes and send these to Austin. So my first question was whether this wouldn't be less efficient than our current system?
Medina's first response was basically a restatement of her assertion that we have Constitutional rights to property ownership that are somehow done away with through a property tax system. So I asked again if giving up local control for statewide control wouldn't result in a less efficient system. I decided not to push it and ask a third time or delve into related areas with my questioning.
However, Mr. Atkinson, seated directly next to me at an adjacent table, was quick to leap to Medina's defense. Atkinson is an intelligent, articulate and well-educated individual, so I value his input, and speaking to him on the matter would be pretty much the same as speaking with Medina, so I now shift my conversation to the "number 5" Ron Paul Republican in the State!
Jerrod and I discussed issues such as the apportionment of revenues of certain cities between sales taxes, property taxes and other fees. For example, Mesquite, according to his numbers, only collects 20% of its revenues from sales taxes, where Plano collects around 33%. In this situation, the Plano's would hate a sales tax-only system because they would, in effect, be subsidizing the Mesquite's, who would love this system because they would be receiving more than was being spent within their borders.
Now, could this system be implemented by the State? Sure--heck, it's even on the Republican Party of Texas' Platform! The problem is that we have had property taxes for long enough that many cities have set themselves up for development in a certain way that is not conducive to such a program. For example, Addison and Farmers Branch have small populations but large industrial and commercial tax bases. Under the new system, the "rich" become poor because now they receive a percentage of sales taxes commensurate to their population, not property taxes from the office buildings and warehouses that have made them two of the best-funded cities in the State.
It behooves a city to have a large population with significant retail development. In other words, Frisco becomes the envy of the State! For they have plenty of undeveloped land that can be rezoned residential--even high density residential like multi-family!--and significant retail development to serve the same. Under a property tax system, the Hall Office Complex north of State Highway 121 and on the west side of the tollway doesn't benefit Frisco except to attract businesses who would inevitably spend lunch dollars at local restaurants.
I will discuss more detail surrounding this matter in a subsequent article. That should be enough detail to make some heads spin for now! I'll also wrap up my conversation with Mr. Atkinson later.
But suffice to say, I believe Ms. Medina's proposal to move to sales taxes is a bad proposal. And being my first time to actually hear her speak publicly, in-person, and given her adamant stance on the issue, I would have to say this was a strike one for me personally.
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