Talk of Lufkin

By concernedtaxpayer

July 2, 2009 3:18 PM | Link to this

Ok someone needs to get their facts straight. Yesterday it was 10 people asked to show up at 9, today it is a dozen people? I honestly cannot blame them for not showing they are going to need their salaries and time they would miss from work to pay for their tax increase. And of the 2 who did show only one is moving on to the ARB panel. I gather the other one must have figured out it wasn’t going to do any good. Notice how of the 2 that showed up there was no mention of an acceptable resolution geared towards the taxpayer?

By RealityCheck

July 3, 2009 9:12 AM | Link to this

Just like voting, you can’t gripe if you don’t show up. If you go through the process and are still not satisfied then you can say something. I don’t like paying taxes any more than the next guy but, this is how we pay for our schools, streets, other services etc. and until something that everyone can get behind comes along you have to play the game. The appraisers are bound to specific rules and methods when it comes to appraising. They don’t make any more money if values go up or down. Like I have said in previous posts, getting mad at the appraiser is short sided. If you really want someone to get angry with point your swords toward the comptrollers property tax division in Austin. There you will find the people putting pressure on the appraisal districts all over the state to raise values. Austin has no idea what the market in East Texas looks like they just know that the more local taxes they can force the local entities to collect the less they have to participate with of state funds. Then the state money can go to the big city interests that wield all the power in Austin. Big Piucture people, Big Picture!

By ralph

July 3, 2009 12:38 PM | Link to this

This is a case of Taxation without representation. There is no one here to represent the tax payers. The board is here to back up the appraisers. The taxing districts wash their hands of the process by putting on the appraisal district to set property values which should be independent but since they are funded by the taxing districts they certainly cannot be independent. they are under pressure to raise property values from the taxing districts and the taxing districts are under pressure from the state to get property values up or they wont get funding from the state. This is a typical case of politicians passing the buck so they can blame someone else for doing what we elected them to do . So will it do any good to protest you property values. the is answer is most likely no. But our politicians leave us no other way to air our gripes. We should vote for someone else next election and get rid of city council, the mayor, the school board, our governor, our state comptroller and all the rest.

By concernedtaxpayer

July 3, 2009 1:18 PM | Link to this

Yes all of the things aired throughout a term in office should be taken into consideration, but the sad fact is that the only time elected officials are really concerned about us is the year they come up for reelection because that is about the time frame the voting public will take into account when making their vote. Thus our president pretty much has free reign the first 3 years in office…and has to face the public the last year. If he wins reelection (as in the case with Bush). He doesn’t have to be concerned with the public at all because his job is guaranteed over at the end of the next 4 years no matter how the public views him.

By Debbie Ricks

July 3, 2009 5:44 PM | Link to this

I protested a few years ago and lost..put my property on the market for the appraised amount since I was assured “property identical to mine was selling for that all over Lufkin” and I still own my property because no one would buy it for the appraised amount. I am still on the hook for the appraised amount taxes and it went up this year..If I could not sell for previous appraisal, what makes them think I can sell it for a few thousand dollars more? Needless to say, there have been no improvements made. My ancestors held onto this land through thick and thin, and I plan on doing the same.

By Dale

July 3, 2009 8:40 PM | Link to this

Hey Folks!

I ran against McReynolds in the 02’ election, this was a major issue. I proposed that we eliminate the Appraisal District and replace it with a similar program that California has, after Prop 13. Your valuation is what you paid for your property and every year after, the property value will go up 3 per cent, no matter what! The tax rate is 1 percent; if you have a 200k home you pay 2000 dollars each year. This along, with another proposal of a state sales tax replacing the property tax would have simplified taxation in Texas. California has a huge turnover of real estate and the market does adjust itself, based on supply and demand, not what someone else determines. This would have saved Texans almost a Billion dollars just eliminating the Appraisal District; the state sales tax would have been around 15 to 16 cents. More important, you not only do you qualify for your loan, but you qualify for the taxes that are placed upon the property. Most retirements tend to keep up with inflation, but not always.

The taxing authorities play this game, good cop bad cop, if one doesn’t raise the rate, the other will raise the valuation. I have noticed that the recent reduction in property taxes is almost gone, in the next two years; I expect my taxes to be back up where we started. Those on fixed incomes always get hurt first; Keith Kramer argued with me that someone making 200k a year was on a fixed income. Needless to say, most in government are ignorant of the facts and realities, tend to be very narrow minded and do not want change. This is the way it is and not much will change; death and taxes are the only guarantees in life.

I have run five times for public office, and did not get over 30 percent of the vote. So if you’re a Democrat, you forfeit you right to complain about taxes, this is you’re your party, you elected officials, they have always wanted your money. Just open up your wallet and smile.

Good luck with your complaints! I would recommend that you move out of the large school district and into a smaller one.

Dale Ingle

By concernedtaxpayer

July 5, 2009 1:42 AM | Link to this

Dale, look at the mess California is in. Their property values and the way they are taxed have a lot to do with the mess they are in. Under your philosophy your valuation is what you paid for your property, but as we all know now lending institutions, private appraisers and a booming housing market drove those prices through the roof so badly that a 2 bedroom house with a view could cost well over a million dollars in California. Now that bubble has burst and their house is no where near worth the million dollars they paid for it, though that is what they owe on the loan and according to your philosophy of taxing them on what they paid for their house now they are paying taxes on a million dollar home that is worth maybe 2-300,000, which is adding to their foreclosure crisis and lack of government funding. California is WAAAAAYYY more in the red than Texas and are faced with writing IOUs as a means to support themselves at this point in addition to laying off over 20,000 teachers. With what you are wanting to do if the public had any more intelligence you would not have managed to obtain the 30% you did get.

The flipside of that token was if a couple bought their house in the 70s or before all the boom they would have paid taxes on less than 100,000 even though if they sold it they could have gotten millions. There is nothing fair or sane about that way of taxation. Granted we are complaining because we have over built and over spent ourselves (not all of us, though we are all on the hook) but the value of a property is what someone is willing to pay for it today, not what you bought it for last year or 30 years ago.

Being a Democrat does not forfeit rights guaranteed to us by the constitution. Everyone has the right to their freedom of speech, as long as the the speech expressed is within good taste without profanity and disregard for someone’s sex, race or origin.

I believe California’s predicament more than speaks for itself, and how lucky we are the people voted for your opponent.

By Old Man

July 5, 2009 7:23 AM | Link to this

To Reality Check: I totally agree! If you don’t show up to protest, then live with it. Same as voting. If you don’t vote, you have no right to gripe about the government. But there IS a simpler and BETTER way to get revenue for funding schools and other projects. Completely eliminate property taxes altogether, and institute a sales tax. EVERYBODY pays for it then and it doesn’t depend on the minority of people who own property to pay for it all!! Texas has flirted with it for years, but simply can’t seem to grasp the logic and sense of it. That seems to be the hallmark of government(at all levels!) in recent years.

By Dale

July 5, 2009 8:34 AM | Link to this

California problems started after Prop 13, elected officials looked for every method of revenue to satisfy their spending habits. They spent themselves into this mess. Property taxes are not the sole source of revenue in California. Housing valuation is base on supply and demand, what you’re willing to pay for it. It is a desirable place to live and people pay a price to live there. The housing bubble did not force California into this mess, state spending did. Many retired people saw their tax bills were higher than their monthly mortgage payments. Fixed income, retired people were being forced to sell their home to pay the property taxes. My parents went thru this and sold their house and yes made a profit and moved out of the state. Since you’re more intelligent than me, I do expect you to run for public office and fix this problem. I did more than just complain about it, there are a lot of problems in Texas, be sure to file before Dec. 31, 2009 for the 2010 election. It is easy to sit on the sideline and complain; few if any ever attend any meetings, hearings or even write their elected officials. You will need around 150k to effectively compete against McReynolds, start now with your fundraising and enjoy the ride.

By concernedtaxpayer

July 5, 2009 8:40 AM | Link to this

In theory this sales tax idea seems to be a good one, but when you figure that one of the last surviving industries in this country and in our state is retail services and goods. According to your plan it would tax everyone equally. If you followed your plan to completion while their might be an equal tax burden for anyone who bought said goods, services, hotel stays, cell phones, electricity, cable or satellite TV, but how many of those businesses are you going to close when you start raising the consumers price? The bottom line is everyone already without any additional salestax has slowed to a virtual snails pace on everything from vacations to just what they buy at the store in general. If our mainstay of surviving had been provided through sales tax when this kind of behavior goes on the state would have horrible budgetary problems. Taxes would essentially become a choice at the cash register and if you simply did not wish to pay then purchases will be restricted to only essential items. Fuel costs, labor costs (with our friendly minimum wage hikes) and energy costs are already driving the prices up. There is a threshold of consumer viability and once that threshold is crossed the only other choice is bankruptcy. Bankrupt businesses mean bankrupt state.

Our property tax system may be flawed in some areas, but overall it is the best of both evils (either sales tax or income tax).

Furthermore even if we do not protest our taxes we still have the write to complain especially if we voted to defeat bond issues involved in local spending, and whether directly or indirectly raising property taxes for everyone. I have no basis to form a protest on my property that will result in a reduction. So why would I take off time from work to mount a protest that amounts to basically a complaint on something the appraisal district really has no direct control over. The communities children will go to the nicest of schools located on the highest priced property in town sitting just outside the loop, they will have access to the leisurely strolls around downtown perusing beautiful murals ripe with nostalgia, eventually they will be able to take in a classic feature in a theatre that has cost them millions to purchase and millions more to renovate, as well as a road system that was millions more in just one area of town, the expo center, the forestry museum, the Museum of East Texas and the civic center which has also cost them combined almost another million dollars. These things come at a price and now we know (via our property values) just what that price is. I wonder if a poll were taken now just property owners (it has always struck me odd how everyone is allowed to vote on an issue when the only ones paying for it are property owners) would vote for all these luxuries?

By concernedtaxpayer

July 5, 2009 10:21 AM | Link to this

You make the assumption that I am more intelligent than you. While their problems may have started before Prop 13, this has also added to the states problems as well. I have written my elected officials many times over on many different issues with the same run around from each one (they must learn that somewhere in the first week).

Since you do have some knowledge of the monetary amount needed to run an election, and have subsequently lost 5 times I ask you besides air time and your 15 minutes in the spotlight what did your 750,000 buy you or any of the common citizens you were hoping to help? You are not the first to suggest I run for election (though the first to do it in such a sarcastic manner), but I am avidly opposed to the way the elections themselves are run. Taking a page from the Bible Jesus didn’t need TV spots, townhalls, fancy slogans and gimmicks. He most certainly didn’t need 150,000 or 500 million (thinking nationally). He had a message and he carried it on foot to anyone who would listen. He did not CHARGE them for that message to promote his personal image. What do the soles of your shoes look like? Born into this state and this country I have but one obligation as it’s citizen, and that is to make sure when I am voting against people like you who use sarcasm and inuendo as a means to bully people into voting your way that it is an informed vote and I am educated as to not only the person I am voting for, but to the ones I am voting against. Running for office is a choice not an obligation as in today’s world there are many more factors that will be brought in to cloud the objectivity of the issues. Utilizing things such as the fact that I am a woman, my age, very little experience working in a political agenda (which is probably a good thing) and any other general mud that can be dredged up as a first line of defense to attack the core of my character whether it has anything to do with a direct relation to the public or not.

It is your right to paint those of us who choose to remain out of this circus for whatever it may be as sitting on the sidelines or complainers. I defend your right to your opinion and your right to speak it whether I or anyone else agrees with it or not.

As long as there is 1 person in our state or in our country who goes hungry at night because he has not the means to provide food for himself or his family, or does not have the means to pay even basic utility bills, or buy a new pair of shoes despite the fact thoe soles of the current pair are plagued with holes from searching for employment I will not spend 1 DIME on air time, or renting venues, or staffing writers and buying cardboard signs with variations of my name and slogan. Any revenues I can or do choose to generate on my own will be better served to help out our community and the people I seek to help, rather than running slander campaigns.

By Dale

July 5, 2009 1:28 PM | Link to this

I live in California during Prop 13, they just found ways to get around the property tax rollback, and it’s called fees. They have spent themselves into today’s problems. The 15 minutes of fame you mention is more like 11 months traveling this district, I raised and spent 25k for my run at the state rep seat. You quickly learn that everyone wants something for nothing, free money, just vote the guy that will give it to you. “What are you going to do to buy my vote Mr. Candidate? That was from a teacher in the south part of district 12. Funny part of your statement, I grew up on the welfare, I know has the system works. I have realized that you cannot solve everyone’s problems, only that individual can. I work two jobs now and one of them is installing satellite systems, outside in our 100 degree heat. I am 48 years old, and I used to fly for a commercial airline, MD-11 type aircraft. I only have an Associate Degree in Aircraft Maintenance. There are jobs even in East Texas, the vast majority of homes that I install satellite TV, have dirty floors, run down and they make far less that my 30k, they appear to be on subsistence. Many people simply do not want to work; TV is a top priority for these customers. You can’t change the system until you get elected, it can only be done under our current one. Being idealistic will not effect change. I ran my election with the help of my family. Drove over 15000 miles, you get a different perspective on people and problems when you campaign. My goal was to simplify our state tax system, “state sales tax only”. Make government less intrusive, eliminate all other taxes, the bureaucracy and budget process is too ridged and resists change; it does not have the ability to contract in lean economic times. No one really owns a home today they just manage it for the bank and taxing authorities and when their done the Medicaid Recovery Act will seize your property, to pay your end of life medical bills, so much for leaving anything for your children. Remember you can’t change things by sitting on the sideline. My family and I have been attacked several times during each election, invasion of privacy and other such things, violation of federal law. The mudslinging wasn’t from me; it was from teachers. Education is too expensive today, especially for the results we get. LISD school budget is 81 million dollars and has 7300 students, and graduates 72 percent of the students, what a deal. Texas is only 7 years behind California type problems, the next disasters will be the state pension funds, and they are eating into the principal, with more retirements and the stock market down. You can’t keep beating down business and expect things to stay the same. These pensions’ funds are heavily invested in the market; it will be interesting to see how they fix this problem. When is the last time you heard of an American starving to death? With childhood obesity becoming a real problem, the argument of starvation is less effective. There are too many sources and agencies to provide food for those who cannot afford it. I volunteered in Food program in California; it was supported by private donations and it worked. Good luck with your future endeavors.

By concernedtaxpayer

July 5, 2009 5:18 PM | Link to this

I am pleased to see you have toned down the manner which you portray yourself now, and thus find myself more inclined to listen to your opinion. I personally have no cable or satellite TV because I cannot afford it, and find that you are indeed correct people become a slave to the television and care less about what is happening around them. Er go we elect a president because he is a celebrity and has a certain amount of charm to present what his staff of writers have manufactured for him.

As far as people starving in America, obesity might be an epidemic in this country, but I work in the healthcare industry and though various privacy laws prevent me from going into great detail on any particular person or case I can assure you of personal knowledge of many cases of malnutrition and homelessness right here on the home front.

I still maintain disagreement that Prop 13 like our current system is not flawed, but at least you are out there working to be an asset to your community. With a little less abrasiveness and a more open discussion forum to actually discover what sort of taxation the paying citizens of this community are amenable to it might be possible to come up with something better than Prop 13 or our current system, but I believe first order of business, and the better theory to promote is to identify and put a stop to the unnecessary spending that is going on around the state and here in our community, bring our budget to a point where we are supporting ourselves and then tackle the way in which government operations are run and which programs are sustainable and which ones are not.

By Patrick

July 11, 2009 8:49 AM | Link to this

the appraisal process is somewhat skewed in favor of raising every porperty by the maximum per centage allowed. We need to hammer our legislators to put a 5% cap on raises per year. And we need to hammer on them to make the appraisal districts actually go out and look at the property instead of relying on computer programs to tell them what to do. Example — on my street there is a vacant house that is falling into terrible disrepair, been vacant for several years. Yet the appraisal nitwits have it valued at more than my well-kept occupied house of the same size. Go figure.