Where Did You Go, Keep It Local ND?
Update: Interestingly enough, Keep It Local ND’s website has been taken down, and their social media presence on Facebook is gone. I guess they didn’t want people to go back and remember their arguments against Measure 2?
During the debate over Measure 2, which would have abolished property taxes in North Dakota if voters had assented, a coalition of unions, government lobbyists and business groups formed to oppose it. The crux of their argument was that Measure 2 would destroy local control.
After a very expensive campaign, they won that argument and Measure 2 failed. But in the wake of that failure there is a statewide debate about what should be done about property taxes. After all, during the Measure 2 debates, pretty much everyone agreed that something should be done about property taxes.
And a lot of policies are being proposed, though most of them aren’t very good. They include more state subsidies for local spending, more property tax exemptions and even a 100% take over of school funding.
But what all these proposals have in common is that they’re coming from the state level,they tread upon the holy ground of “local control” and so far they’ve not inspired a single objection from the Keep It Local ND coalition.
What gives? I thought Measure 2 was bad because we didn’t want the state controlling education funding, etc., etc.
One almost gets the idea that “Keep It Local ND” was never really about keeping it local. One gets the idea that local governments want their cake and they want to eat it too. They want the state to solve the problems, while they spend the money.
And, one gets the idea that Keep It Local ND was never so much about protecting local control as keeping money tied up in government.
I’m afraid that North Dakotans got fooled into passing on their best opportunity for property tax reform.
Tags: keep it local nd, North Dakota News, property taxes
