In an article (in Spanish) published by Martinez-Solanas in his column, he asks whether "Is the Private Property Tax Fair?" and alleges, among other arguments, that: "If the owner does not pay the taxes, the tax authority could sell the house to recover the back amount, even if the unpaid debt is a small fraction of the property's value," and emphasizes that "No one owns their home. The owner is the government, which, after the taxpayer has worked and made an effort to purchase their home, effectively becomes a tenant of the authorities who charge them for allowing them to occupy it."
It is the same argument used buy Gov. Ron DeSantis, who thinks it's wrong for a homeowner to pay rent to the government based on the value of their property. It would have been helpfull for him to explain the structure of the property tax.
Propertu taxes are basically two taxes; one pat assesses the land value irrespective of improvements, and the second assesses tje value of the real property, the improvements. If by "property" he means the value of improvements, I fully agree. One should not be pubished for the improvements. On the other hand, the taxation of land and improvements in America goes back to the Massachisetts Bay Colony as early as 1634. Specifically, an assessment on the value of land only tends to decrease speculation or holding land for mere financial gain. (Land is a location of a natural resource. The value that attaches to a location of land is called economic rent. The word "rent" in evryday use conflates the location and improvement value.)
If the land you occupy has become less valuable over time, should you have to pay more rent to use it? If the land has become more valuable over time, should you pay for what they get, not more of less.
Periods of great land speculation cause the values to spike and then crash. Only when highly valued but underutilized sites are pressured into greater use will the great spikes in land values be moderatd. The solution is for cities to remove all taxation of improvements to land but retain a single tax on the land value alone, equal to what the location would yield in rent if offered to the highest bidder.
However, because local property taxes are based on the assessed capital (, potential sales value), the rate decided needs to the increased periodically as selling prices for land begin to fall once the opportunity to profit by holding land off the market disappears.
Taxes on labor and products of labor (, payroll taxes and sales taxes) leave workers with less. A tax on real property (homes and other structures) punishes improvements and increases the cost of renovation. If we want access to good roads and police and fire department, we should pay for them. The land values in your neighborhood are about equal and reflect the benefits you receive for the location you enjoy. Collecting some economic rent annually, irrespective of the improvements, is right and just.
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