The Populist Case for Property Taxes, for Gina Hinojosa And Abdul El-Sayed
Someone still has to pay for storm drains and police force! Ask Stafford, Texas, or St. Johns County, Florida
Note: Sorry about the late article; I've been trying to improve my writing style based on the survey feedback and, more importantly, be a bit briefer without going for Axios’s smart brevity.
On November 3rd, Texans voted for Gina Hinojosa to be their next governor. Hinojosa, a Democrat, beat three-term Republican governor Greg Abbott with a plan to get rid of corporate subsidies and get rid of what she refers to as corrupt state business contracts, and then use the savings to defray homeowners’ property taxes until they reach zero.
Where would the money come from? Well, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, mostly, but if you press her she’ll concede, “I don’t know if we can get there.” Abbott, for his part, had pledged to eliminate the portion of the property tax that goes to schools for homeowners.
This isn’t limited to Texas. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, the senator-elect, has called for a federal program to cap property taxes for seniors, with Washington picking up the slack for “municipal revenue shortfalls.”
And all of this comes amid expectations that storm drains will still drain, parks will still be clean, and ambulances will still come when you call.