No harm, no foul?...

One time my younger brother and I decided it would be a good idea to stand in the chicken yard and throw green apples at cars that passed in front of our house. Neither of us had much of an arm, so we really weren't much of a threat to the passing motorists. When we saw Mom coming out to put an end to our pastime, I figured we couldn't be in too much trouble since we hadn't hit anybody. She didn't look at it that way.

I went to an anti-property tax rally last Monday night in New Castle. It was fairly well attended, and sponsored by a group called Advance America. I'm always glad to see more people and organizations coming out in favor of abolishing property taxes, and I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the group's founder, Eric Miller. I do have doubts about whether the two parties currently in power will be able to eliminate property taxes without extreme increases in other taxes, but if we can do away with the property tax, we can worry about that later.

The recent fervor for abolishing the tax has come about because of the outrageous increase in bills in the last year. The number of homes and businesses that are in danger of being lost to the tax does have a way of rallying people behind the movement. But if property taxes are unfair when a thousand people lose their homes, weren't they just as unfair when a hundred people lost their homes? Or ten people? Or one? Or none?

Libertarians have opposed property taxes as long as there have been property taxes and Libertarians. Not just when the government takes a citizen's property, but also when the government first decides it has the right to take a citizen's property.

So while I'm happy to see Mr. Miller and so many other people coming out in opposition of the tax, I have to ask, what took you so long?