Jamail’s Dispatch
by DARRYL JAMAIL
A common sales tactic with new cars these days is to sell buyers on a “monthly payment.” The salesman asks them what they can afford per month, and then draws up the financing to meet their budget. The problem (for the buyer) is that the total cost of the purchase is not the focus and they end up paying much more than they should because they didn’t look at the true cost. As voters we are facing a similar situation this November.
I’m talking about the critical issue of the proposed annexation by the Austin Community College (ACC) taxing district. I find it interesting that all of the proponents of the annexation (including ACC) are staying away from the “T” word…Tax. Just look at how it appears on the ballot, “Annexation of the following territory for junior college purposes: All of the territory in Hays Consolidated Independent School District.” This language is misleading at best and downright deceptive at worst. Why can’t they come out and say what it is…another property tax. That’s all I need to know to be skeptical. If we vote yes, we are voting for another tax to be levied on our property. That is the bottom line here. I have two points on which I base my opposition.
The first point is the situation we as Hays CISD residents are already in because of our higher school taxes. Hays CISD taxes are $1.4613 per hundred dollar valuation, Austin residents $1.227, Eanes (Westlake) pays $1.2025. So we already pay 25 cents more than Austin and Westlake homeowners. Plus if this passes we will be in a taxing district that is literally controlled by voters in Austin (Hays CISD has about 26,842 registered voters and Austin about 375,000). This is not the time to allow another taxing district to get its hands on our property. ACC is giving the soft sell that it’s only pennies, but that’s just a way to get their foot in the door. Look at the other property taxes you pay and tell me what the historical trend has been … higher, ever higher.
Second, private property has been under assault for decades. Stop for a minute and ask yourself, “What do I own that is really mine?” If we don’t pay our registration (tax) for our cars we can’t use them. If we don’t pay our property tax for our home or real estate it can be seized by the government. If a business does not pay tax on its inventory and equipment it can be seized. All of our major property and means of earning a living are already subject to taxation and possible seizure by the government.
I know it may sound old fashioned, but I’m willing to pay higher tuition for my kids to attend a community college for a year or two so that there is not another tax on my property FOREVER. Make no mistake about it, if this annexation passes, there will be one more tax on your property that will never go away and will probably always go up.
Whether you agree or disagree with me on this I encourage you to educate yourself before voting. There are many web sites up on both sides of the issue, please read as much as you can in order to cast an educated ballot. I don’t want us to end up like the person who bought the new car based on the “affordable” monthly payments only to find out later what the true cost was. The difference with ACC is that the payments will never end!
