47 Percent of Detroit Homeowners Have Quit Paying Property Taxes
July 31st, 2013
Detroit, Michigan, once one of America’s most industrious cities, is currently suffering from the poisonous effects of a big government overdose, as most of its jobs and a large chunk of its population have fled the city limits, largely to states with greater economic freedom. In the meantime, services have collapsed as revenues dipped too far below the city’s unsustainable spending levels, plunging Detroit into the most dramatic municipal bankruptcy in US history.
Police response times have reached the one-hour-plus mark as the city no longer has the funds necessary to provide adequate police protection. Potholes go unfilled, and broken street lights aren’t getting replaced. In the midst of big government’s failures, The Detroit News is reporting that 47% of Detroit homeowners have quit paying their property taxes, which happen to be some of the highest in the nation.
High Taxes and Unfair Assessments Make Detroit Homeownership a Miserable Proposition
Currently, there are houses for sale in Detroit at bargain basement prices, starting, seriously, at $1. In fact, these under-priced houses have remained on the market for years, because the taxes associated with the properties are far too high. Also, Detroit’s lack of police protection allows criminals to strip the copper pipes and other valuables from abandoned properties, discouraging potential buyers.
Detroit’s property taxes are among the highest in the nation, and the city now provides virtually no effective services in exchange for the fees. Meanwhile, property assessment in the city has reached an absurd level — if a house sits on the market for several years at the price of $1, its tax value should be assessed at less than $1. Instead, new owners are expected to pay taxes based on inflated assessments from the past. Detroit is now littered with tens of thousands of abandoned properties.
Without Services, Detroit Homeowners Don’t Want to Pay Taxes
Government officials often forget that citizens expect services in exchange for tax dollars. When those services aren’t rendered, taxpayers question why they are paying taxes. Since Detroit can’t even provide sufficient police protection to protect citizens from violence, it also follows that the city can’t enforce its own outrageous tax laws. In response, 47% of homeowners in the area quit paying taxes last year, leaving the city with $246.5 million less in revenues than expected, further exacerbating its inability to provide services.
In the above-linked article, Detroit homeowner Fred Phillips explained why he hasn’t been paying his taxes, “Why should I send them taxes when they aren’t supplying services? It is sickening. … Every time I see the tax bill come, I think about the times we called and nobody came.”
Detroit’s homeowners are sending the city an important signal by refusing to pay their taxes. Governments gain their power from the consent of the governed, and, when such institutions no longer provide any appreciable benefits to citizens, even mainstream folks with no political ideology will become tax resisters. Also, proponents of big government should take note that spending and taxation can reach such high levels that services collapse and tax revenues plunge. Detroit’s government has officially gotten so big that anarchy is breaking out in response. For refusing to pay taxes to a city that provides virtually no services, Detroit’s tax resisting homeowners are this week’s Silver Circle Rebel of the Week winners.
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