Education and the Property Tax

Oscar B. Johannsen

[Reprinted from The Gargoyle, March 1972]

It is ironic, but possibly not really surprising, that one of the most important services of man -- education -- should be the instrument for vitiating, if not destroying some semblance of common sense in the treatment of land in America.

Because such well meaning men as Horace Mann sold America on the necessity for governmental interference in education, our educational system, particularly below the college level has been largely socialized. We call our schools, public schools, but a more accurate characterization would be state or socialized schools, as they are owned and operated by local and county governments, under state control. Mann was warned that all kinds of problems would arise; that education would become secular; that the quality of education would decline; and that related problems would develop. But to no avail. This generation is reaping the harvest.

With education as the excuse, government on the federal level has increasingly invaded not only such areas as civil rights but in economic and religious matters.

And now have dome a spate of court decisions declaring that the system of financing our socialized schools is unconstitutional. For example, the Supreme Court of California^ said that the tax on property, which is the principal means of raising revenue for the schools, discriminates against the poor. This is because in the poorer areas, the amount of taxation which can be garnered by this method is less than in wealthier areas.

The decision apparently is based on the highly questionable assumption that the quality of education a child receives is largely a matter of income spent. While it may be true that the quality of education in the socialized schools of some of our wealthier communities, as in Westchester County (N.Y.)is superior to elsewhere, it is probably not so much that more money is spent as it is that the general educational and cultural level of such communities is. higher. New York City probably spends more per child than 90% of the schools in the country, but children graduating from its schools these days do not display any greater educational excellence. On the contrary their deficiencies are arousing increasing concern on the part of the parents.

If the nation wants quality education, it must abolish our socialized school system and return education to the parents, where it belongs. The result would be the creation of private schools all over the country devoted to meeting the varying needs of the children. Not only would the children then have the opportunity to develop their capacities properly, but the cost would be far less than now.

In the meantime, however, with education as the excuse, an assault has been made on the property tax. Some apparently think this is a good thing for it may cause people to examine the property tax critically. After all, part of the property tax is not only unwise and unjust, it is stupid.

That is, the taxing of the value of improvements. This should be abolished. This would mean not only that greater and better improvements would be made, but wiser use of the land. But the part of the tax which should not be touched is that which is on the value of the land. If anything, in most cases, it should be raised. It should be raised to the point where the full economic rent for the loan of land is paid to the local community.

If, in the ensuing debate it should develop that this would occur, then education would have served as the spur for a great achievement. However, the danger is great that the very opposite will occur.

All manner of proposals are being made to replace the local property tax. In New Jersey, the proposed $1.5 billion tax package is supposed to result in an average one-third reduction of local property taxes. That's the bait put before the Jersey homeowners to invite their support. And what is the price to be paid? Well, the tax package includes a graduated state income tax, plus a state-wide property tax with a rate of $1 for each $100 of assessed true valuation.

It isn't bad enough that New Jersey has a sales tax and a lottery, but the taxpayers are to be saddled with an income tax. And as for the statewide property tax administered by the state, that is precisely the wrong thing to do. In assessing land, it should be done by the local community for then it is more under the control of the people. The further the assessing units are away from the people the less control they have, and the result will be more inequities and abuses.

It is bad enough under local control. Land speculation is rampant, helped in no small measure by inequities in land assessments, Time after time, one reads of corruption and inequities in assessing land. But what happens locally is nothing compared to what will occur when the State controls assessing.

Even if there is no corruption, the very fact that the rate of assessing real property is supposed to decline from an average of $5.28 per $100 of assessed value to $1.00, means that real property would increase in value. Land would become that much more expensive precisely because the taxes on its value would be so much less. No doubt, this appeals to homeowners -- it certainly does to land speculators -- but it means that a smaller number of private homes would be built. With land so expensive, it would only pay to build multi-storied buildings, so more of the people would be living like rabbits in warrens. This does not take into consideration other improvements to land as factories, etc. which would tend to be more cheaply constructed as the price of land would be so high, there would not be adequate funds for proper construction.

But, of course, there is no assurance that local property taxes will be reduced to anything like the amount assumed. It's an old saw that once a tax is levied, it endureth forever. In the depression, New York City levied a temporary sales tax to help the needy, of about 1%. Now, almost 40 years later this temporary tax is 7%. It's as temporary as death is.

What will probably happen will be that the statewide property tax will be levied on top of the local property tax. Oh, for a while it may be that the local one will be reduced, but sooner or later it will go up. The danger is that land values will tend to be undertaxed, giving rise to the increase in the price of land causing some of the problems mentioned previously.

Will the tax package be adopted in New Jersey? Probably, for no doubt it will have the support of such interests as labor and homeowners, not to mention real estate speculators. The homeowner cannot help seeing a decrease in his real estate taxes with a concomitant rise in the value of his home. Labor will favor the income tax, and the gamblers in land values will favor the reduced taxes on land values.

New Jersey is definitely on the wrong road. Only a few years ago, it was one of the few states without a sales or income tax. Now, it is going all out to catch up with a vengeance. And much of this is done on the excuse that it will help increase the educational opportunities available. What crimes are committed in the name of education!