Disordered Leftist Comment of the Day: Dana Goldstein on Real Estate

At TAPPED, Goldstein writes that property taxes should not be used to fund public schools because people might try and avoid the taxes...by moving.

Because some people, who don't have kids in public schools and who aren't particularly civic-minded, will inevitably resent paying them and do everything they can to avoid doing so. Case in point: Sun belt retirees living in "adult" communities that not only ban children, but also incorporate outside of existing cities and towns in order to achieve full tax revolt status.

Well, we can't have people making choices which lead to paying fewer taxes, now can we. Her unwritten, but presumed solution would be to institute a more broadly applicable tax, one that cannot be avoided simply by moving out of the burdened area.

She goes on to join Andrew Blechman in sneering at people who have the shocking selfishness to stand up for their own interests:

Life in the Villages is similarly premised: Seniors have taken control of their county's political machinery and have already begun closing parks for young families who live outside the gated community. As one Villager proudly told me without a trace of irony, "In the Villages we spend our tax dollars on ourselves."

If the Villages and Sun City cannot be accountable to their neighbors, then why should their neighbors be accountable to them, even when it comes to funding Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security?

After years of leisure, many Sun City residents have little interest in making the world, let alone their own community, a better place. They'd rather glide to the finish, which is why the community is already getting ratty around the edges

Well that's not very civic-minded of the Villagers. How natural it is for the leftist to suggest that we can impose a new social order by withholding government benefits. Why not premise all government programs on the participant's fervor for neighborly values?

The Other McCain has related thoughts.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 01:12 PM

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