Steve Moen

Minot

The RHINOs are on the warpath! How dare we the people float a petition to end property tax! Didn’t we get the message last session when they tabled it. They held a meeting in Mandan to see how they can silence grass root conservatives and are totally against giving the people a meaningful tax break.

We the people know better. Schools are 80% funded by the state. Property tax funds less than 50% of the cities and counties. All their concerns are unwarranted and most are lies and misinformation. This measure isn’t extremely detailed as it is a Constitutional measure not a statute measure.

Minot right now is trying to expand the renaissance zone to give more entrepreneurs massive tax breaks and incentives to renew places they picked in Minot to fix up. Who pays for this? You guessed it – the rest of us taxpayers who get little or no benefit from this and if you are a business you’re paying for your competition’s competitive edge over your business.

I am fed up with the unfairness and lack of representation in this tax. The discrimination is atrocious. If it was based on sex, race or religion the ACLU would be all over it. There are three groups affected by this tax and all are treated differently. This is a red flag. Two groups pay on their market value the other on what is produced on it – another red flag. One group doesn’t pay for any buildings – another red flag. A different group can get exemptions depending where they are located and if they are moving into a community – another red flag. If we must keep this tax it has to be fair, and to do that, the privileged group would see their taxes increase 10-15 times what is paid now. We just want to get rid of it as it is unconstitutional, unbiblical and was one of the main taxes our founding fathers fought and died to get rid of.