Cuyahoga County: Housing market falls, but property taxes won't

Cuyahoga's county auditor promised to work 12 to 15 hours a day to make sure everyone in has a chance to appeal their property taxes. Why would they need to do this? Because he decided to freeze 500,000 home values. The government knows they won't be getting as much property taxes with home values falling as they are. They just can't afford to let people pay fair taxes. Poor guys!

Thank goodness Russo is there to take this extraordinary step to serve the people! If it weren't for him, people might not have a chance to make this appeal and get lower taxes. Oh wait, he's the reason they're not being lowered in the first place. FAIL.

People in this state are suffering. They can't make their home payments as it is. Now the government is making it that much harder. It's no wonder Cleveland's main county is losing population so quickly. Home foreclosures are high, and this is supposed to help the state how? Let's make it harder for people to pay for their homes. Then, when they can no longer afford it, they will have to walk away and give it back to the bank. More banks will be burdened with getting rid of homes at a steep discount. Rinse and repeat.

As always, government actions will make the situation worse. They will end up losing more money with less homeowners than before. Homes will sit vacant with property taxes being more than it's worth. Nobody in their right mind will want to buy. Less home buyers, less home owners, less taxes for the government. Maybe we should all be thankful they're digging such a big hole for themselves.

We call this a democracy, yet our taxes are repeatedly raised without representation. One of the most fervent battle cries of the American revolution has been turned around on itself. Maybe some day people will finally wise up to this charade and put an end to these shenanigans. I think a good start would be an amendment requiring a public vote on every single proposed tax increase anywhere in the state. And each time it fails, make them wait at least two years before trying again. State and county legislatures and appointed officials are clearly abusing this privilege. We need to take it away from them now.

Ideally though, taxes need to be abolished, not lowered. Taxes only by voting sounds better than what we have now, but even that is not really a solution. Only a start to a good solution. Imagine if Ohio had no city, state or county taxes. People would flock here to take advantage of freedom rarely seen elsewhere in the country. New businesses would flourish, enough jobs for everyone. No regional states would be able to compete with Ohio. How would necessary government services be funded in this state without them? Same way as all the other necessary services we depend on - voluntary trade.