Interesting note that even the greedy federal government allows us to have a married combined $500,000 gain on our home without it being taxed for income tax purposes.

Yet our county appraisers cannot wait to give us double-digit valuation increases every year, and they capitalize on a crazy market that has actually started to slow down since interest rates went up; yet the appraisal increase from the county for 2023 is still as strong as it was in 2022, before the interest rates slowed the market.

The current method of valuing properties and punishing homeowners for unrealized gains is unethical. Homeowners are being forced to pay taxes on valuations that are speculation based on someone’s opinion of what the home might be worth compared to other properties that may or may not be similar. It’s a guessing game at best, and a money grab if you ask the homeowners affected.

Counties kicking the citizens while they’re down is outrageous!

People are just trying to survive in this inflationary economy, but government has become so out-of-control that it’s going to bankrupt the people by trying to keep itself alive and thriving.

This system is not sustainable!

They can say that just because the value goes up does not mean the taxes will go up, but we’ve all been to the school board meetings. They charge whatever mill levy they want, and the people can’t stop it or else they’re ridiculed as being “against the children.”

All it takes to exceed revenue neutral is a hearing. People are at work, the commissioners or councilmembers claim we must have the money to pay the bills, everything is rubber-stamped, and the burdens are piled on the backs of the already-defeated taxpayers.

It’s time to think outside of the box and provide some much needed relief to the People.

The legislators need to enact statutes that prevent excessive appraisal increases, with an annual cap when a property has not changed hands.

Seniors need to be exempt from the law that requires appraisers to increase property values because the increases are preventing them from qualifying for the much-needed property tax credits because those credits have a property appraisal cap of $350,000. With the recent skyrocketing values over the past two years, many seniors on fixed incomes no longer qualify for the credits that were designed to protect them from rising property taxes.

Cities, counties, and school boards need to look at their expenses instead of always trying to raise their revenue. Government spending is out of control. We need to look at every department to cut expenses where they’re inefficient. We need to look at every program and cut spending on those programs that are ineffective.

It’s time to stop increasing the burden and start cutting the costs.