It’s tax time in Travis county and Austin, that means it’s the annual hand wringing and whining because the property values are up again, by huge amounts.

Taxes are all relative. The total of tax paid is still stunningly low compared to the quality of life and services you get for that. Yes, property taxes are high, but sales tax is relatively low, there is no state income tax, and while the Ledge and Republicans have you convinced that Federal Taxes are high, and money being wasted on drug taking, idle, work shy, “minorities”, it doesn’t matter that that is or is not true, taxes are not really high.

I have never had children in school in Austin, and will never have. I would guess I’ve paid over $60,000 for that choice alone. I’m guessing when most people complaigning were born or arrived in Austin, there were already schools? If thats true, someone paid for them. Probably a lot of people paid taxes for them and couldn’t use them as they were still being built. I’m guessing when they arrived the city had services, roads and other common amenities. How did they get there, someone paid taxes for them.

Those complaining are simply paying for the next generation and you are paying so that those families who can’t afford private education, have some expectation of having children who have a chance in life, and don’t become a burden on the same tax paying society.

I think the problem many of us have, is, those that complain about taxation seem out of touch or sheltered by comparison and lack empathy or sympathy for the real challenges. While I don’t know you, or anything about your quality of life, I’m guessing you don’t worry about water, food, and live in fear because you live in a dangerous environment? All the facilities, effort, and labor that goes into providing the conditions that allow you to live that way, were in general, provided by taxation. Usually that taxation was provided by someone else, your forefathers, others, the people that founded your city etc.

Too many people these days lack empathy, they are, in some respects selfish. They demanding they keep more of THEIR income, and not understanding that if they had to pay their fair share for the free facilities they get to use, in what is essentially a pretty dam good 1st world life, would be paying way over 50% of their total income in taxes. Even if taxes stayed the same, that would mean real cuts being made. Those cuts almost always are targeted at the people who will complain least, because they often are in real fear, too busy getting by.

Yep, I hate the way property taxes are done in Travis County, it’s a sham. Businesses are not assessed fairly, there are too many suspicious valuations. However, while my income has stayed relatively flat since I arrived in Austin from the UK via New York City, my total gross income is still way up and I do not participate in any tax avoidance schemes. So when the politicians promise homestead exemptions, reducing the tax bill etc. they are doing nothing but pandering to the lowest common denominator, and increasingly that represents a generation who don’t understand how good they have it.