I am all for responsive lawmakers, so I want to applaud Republican Rep. Scott Reichner of Bigfork for holding a meeting with his constituents to discuss concerns about property tax re-appraisals. Good on ya, Scott! However, I get the impression--and this could be informed by my own stereotypes of northwesterly Montana, where "the government" is about as popular as Barack Obama draped in a rainbow flag--that he is having this less to talk about the issue than to attempt to stir up the pot about property taxes.
Nobody likes taxes, I get that. I know that there are plenty of other things I'd love to do with the money I spend on our property taxes, but there is this small problem that I also enjoy certain government services. Like schools. And educated workforces. And police and fire fighters. And roads. None of that happens without taxes. If you can figure out a way to run a city, state, or federal government without taxes, I'd be interested to hear it. (Also, you should make sure to pass that solution along to the governor of California, because I know he'd be interested.)
Since nobody likes taxes, it's damn sure that nobody likes higher ones. And I know that people are really angry this year that their property taxes have gone up while most people's property values have actually gone down this year. That does suck. However, I bet that not many of the people now complaining bitterly about the re-appraisal process were running off to town meetings and protests when their property values were going up without their having to pay higher taxes. "I'm mad as hell that my property taxes are too low, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Um, yeah. That would happen.
The way I look at taxes is that you can pay them all at once, or you can be nickeled and dimed to death by your government services not being fully funded. I would rather pay more in taxes than have to use a toll road. I would rather pay more in taxes than have college students have to come out of school with crushing debt. I would rather pay more in taxes than have to buy school supplies for my son's classroom because the schools can't afford them--or have to buy shit I don't want when the schools have to hold fundraisers to support themselves. But maybe that's just me.