Conservative Donnybrook

…I’m just venting.

I received my latest mortgage bill and they informed me that my escrow had increased by $135 per month. Some of you who live in high priced housing markets might not see this as a big deal, but $135 represents a 17% increase in my housing expenses. If your monthly mortgage bill were $1,500 per month, that would amount to a $255 per month increase…an additional $3,060 per year…that was NEVER budgeted. The bottom line is that no one budgets a 17% increase in their monthly mortgage payment when they purchase a house.

On top of that, this is not the first increase that we have absorbed. This latest 75% increase in taxes, which precipitated the latest escrow increase was presaged by a 100% increase two years prior. In other words, our taxes have increases in three years by 250%. This would amount to an annualized increase of 51.829% a year.

I have no idea how my elderly neighbor who has lived in her house forever might be able to adjust the government’s late avariciousness, but I can only imagine that it will eat into her ability to stay independent of the government dole (not counting social security). I have said it before; I will say it again: property taxes are immoral. When retired people are thrown out of the houses they’ve owned for a decade, the veneer of legitimacy for property taxes is called severely into question. The plight of the elderly is instructive: We never truly own our property; we only rent it from the government. It is all the worse while we are still attempting to purchase our property from the bank.

What is worse is that in Indiana, as I’ve chronicled, the populace rose up in protest against usurious property taxes last summer. In response, the legislature, at the governor’s behest, voted in a 1% cap on taxes of a property’s assessed value. Nonetheless, that cap does not go into effect for 2 years (in which time the legislature may very well reverse itself as passions subside). Meanwhile, the populace of Indianapolis must spring for an unexpected and unfair increase of its government levy. Now the populace of Indianapolis is silent…only 50 people appeared at the latest protest. We are like frogs who have been inured to the heat of the taxes which have been applied to us. I used to have a friend who would say, when we played Monopoly as kids, “Money is like butter. Put a little heat under it and it melts.” Today I would counter that if that heat is gradual enough, those whose money melts away will never even realize that it’s happening.

But, it is happening nonetheless.

It makes one severely question the propriety of government education given the fact that the schools account for more than half of the property tax levy. Surely the Catholics (or virtually anyone else who is not the government) can do it cheaper. And, all indications are that they would do it better!

UPDATE: Lest anyone take issue with the dollar amount of my taxes which are discernible from the numbers I’ve given, it would be well to give some background. My neighborhood is one which is fully developed. We are not building schools. We are not building roads. I live in an urban area. No one would, in good conscience send their children to the schools here unless they could not afford private schools. One of the attractions when we moved in was that private schools were attainable because the taxes were low. Now that is out of reach. A young family which moves into this neighborhood, unless they are wealthy, would be forced to send their children to the public schools which are ranked among the worst in the nation. Worse, their children would likely be the victims of crime as a result of their attending these schools. The only conceivable outcome in the face of these tax increases are massive degradation of property values and the subsequent flight of those who are able to flee to outlying, more stable, neighborhoods. All of the progess which this neighborhood has experienced in the last 20 years will be erased as a result of tax policy.

If one is inclined to say, “you pay so little,” keep in mind two things. First, property values in Indianapolis are much lower than in other parts of the nation. The average house price in my neighborhood is around $130,000 - and this is not a horrible part of town - indeed, I live in a desirable part of town. If you pay more in taxes, consider what your house is worth. Second, consider how you would feel if your taxes increased by 250% in the space of 3 years, regardless of where you started.

I am not arguing that I am paying more than anyone else. I am not. I feel for Bill who lives in Southern California (and SM who lives in NYC) and often tell him (them) he (they) should move to Indy where taxes are low (although in good conscience I may have to cease those enticements). I specifically chose the neighborhood I did because the tax burden was low. In the interim, my taxes have increased almost four-fold in the course of four years. That is the benchmark against which to measure my pain. Imagine your taxes increasing in like manner and imagine your reaction - that is all I am saying.