Would Less Taxes be More?

I have a property tax that is due in a few weeks. No one likes taxes unless you work in the assessor's office, right? I'm kidding. I'm sure the paperwork and workload can be a hassle sometimes.

There's a lot of talk about the municipal taxes, especially about property taxes. People are concerned about the home values rising and senior citizens not being able to afford the property taxes on their homes. Capping values for senior citizens has been a way of keeping the tax to an affordable amount.

Cities and towns need money. We all do. Municipal employees need to be paid: teachers, police, DPW, town officials. There has to be a way of bringing money in to meet those bills. we have property taxes, vehicle excise taxes, water bill, sewer. Some towns charge extra for trash pickup and other towns go so far as making you buy trash bags from the town itself and if you don't use those bags, your trash won't be collected. True story.

There are an awful lot of taxes and fees today. I'm not using this forum to bash City Hall for nickel and diming people. I understand there are bills to pay. We all have them. What if your city (town) tries something different?

• Take your "Taxable Income" line from your 1040 when you file your taxes.
• Take a percentage of that number (anywhere from 2.5% to 5%).
• Divide the number into quarterly installments.
• Give a 5% discount to employees of local business and business based in that city (excluding town/city employees)

Would this bring in more money? I don't know. I don't know how much you make and I don't know how much money your local government brings in. There's been a lot of talk about people, "paying their fair share," so here's a chance to do that. You can stop worrying about your home being assessed. No more squabbling between neighbors over why one house is valued this way but the other house is valued that way. Pay what you earn. The more you earn, the more you pay, and the more you can contribute to improving where you live. Hopefully, this could be a way to further improve cities and towns. Less Bills would be sent out meaning less paper. That's better for the environment. Maybe enough would be brought in to eliminate user fees for school sports. Ease the burden for all and people wouldn't worry about having their properties assessed and feeling penalized for taking care of what they own.