Senior Citizens Get to Have Their Cake and Eat It Too in Jackson County

Rarely do my predictions come through as quickly, starkly, and  ironically as they are in Jackson County right now.

Last year, Jackson County passed the senior property tax freeze. I have testified against these plans across the state. In many of these comments, I have pointed out that it is extremely troubling to create a system where people (i.e. seniors) will vote on property tax increases they won’t have to pay. As I said in one of my testimonies:

Similarly, this bill will lead to the troubling issue of people voting on property tax increases that they themselves are not subject to. The single best aspect of property taxation is that it focuses the costs of local services on the people who pay for those services. . . . Instituting a system where people vote on property taxes they won’t pay breaks that beneficial connection. It dramatically alters the voter calculation if seniors are voting on property tax increases they are immune to.

Now, Jackson County has placed a property tax increase on the November ballot. So, as I stated, senior citizens in Jackson County will be able to vote on a property tax increase they won’t have to pay. But it gets even better. It isn’t just any property tax increase—it’s a property tax increase to create a new fund for senior services in Jackson County. You can’t make this up. The county has proposed a new tax to fund benefits for senior citizens that senior citizens get to vote for but won’t have to pay for. What rational senior citizen won’t vote for this tax? All the potential benefits, none of the potential costs. It’s simply ludicrous.

I said before that:

“This bill is every bit as much of a tax increase on non-senior citizens as it is tax relief for some senior citizens,” Stokes said.

I had no idea of just how right I was going to be, unfortunately.