Ryan Taylor’s Property Tax Plan Is All Wealth Redistribution And Tax Shifts

Tweet

Written By:
Rob Port

Jun 18, 2012
6:28pm

Over the weekend I wrote about Democrat Governor candidate Ryan Taylor’s property tax plan, noting that it was almost certainly illegal per the state constitution (the state can’t simply give one group of taxpayers money from another group of taxpayers).

Today Taylor (who is entirely too enamored with his cowboy hat) has released a web video explaining his plan. Taylor spends more time talking about his hat than the tax play, but beyond that the long and short of it is that Taylor wants to buy down local property taxes with statewide funds, and give renters “property tax relief” (even though they don’t pay the property tax) through income tax credits based on their rent levels.

First, the “tax relief” for renters is just flat-out wealth redistribution. Because it’s a tax credit, this means that some renters would get more tax credit than their income tax obligation. Which exposes this for what it is. A big fat check of other people’s money for renters.

Second, Taylor’s plans for buy-downs of agricultural and residential properties is just another tax shift. Property owners would get $100,000 exemptions paid for with statewide revenues transferred to local governments. Thus, it’s not tax relief but a shift in tax burdens from local property owners to statewide officials.

Kind of like what the legislature has already been doing under Governors Hoeven and Dalrymple who devised and continued a property tax relief plan that had the legislature buying a property tax rate cap with statewide funds. Taylor’s plan is a bit more targeted, but otherwise really no different.

Given that the plan already in place hasn’t exactly soothed statewide angst over property taxes, it’s hard to see how Taylor’s plan would do any better.

What North Dakotans need is real tax relief. Not some phony-baloney tax shift and wealth redistribution.