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Ummm .... Schools.

Ever go to a GSO library or park when you were a county only resident? Just asking.

Your "voting" complaint deserves a debate (in my opinion) as to where folks are allowed to vote in regards to their residency. However, I'll go with our Constitution and related docs as to who gets to vote. Allowing only property owners to vote seems a step backwards. Mostly.....

BECAUSE IT IS!

I believe the letter writer wanted to prevent people from voting on bond issues if they were not property owners and therefore, would not be paying for the bonds. There is nothing backward about that, since it is the only fair thing to do. If you are not taxed to help pay for the bonds, you should not vote to pass them.

Mr. Jacobs asked: "Why am I paying taxes to Guilford County?"

For the same reason(s) I have been paying Guilford County taxes AND Greensboro City taxes for 40 years of living in the CITY of Greensboro.

As to what the Guilford County taxes pay for, here are a few "services" provided by the County (although this list is not complete; for a real eye-opener look at the COUNTY governmental listings in the telephone book):

Guilford County Sheriff's Department even if his deputies don't answer emergency calls to CITY residents because the JAIL has to be maintained (paid for) to house wrongdoers for the ENTIRE county including the CITY.

Guilford County Courthouse

Guilford County Health Department (hey, I've been paying for 40 years to have the health department checks wells and septic systems, and I haven't had a well or septic tank during any of those 40 years)

Animal Control (I have had to use this service on occasion when pesky critters from the County travel to the “bright lights big city")

Guilford County Social Services Department

Guilford County Mental Health Services

Guilford COUNTY school system as noted in other response(s)

The salaries of County employees including the County Manager and the County Commissioners

And now here's one which will frost your buns: You pay county taxes to keep the Guilford County TAX Department up and running because it collects/handles taxes for both the County and the CITY

As to the “shouldn’t vote on bonds unless pay property taxes” – here is a FACT from over 35 years ago. Back in the 1970's an apartment dweller was billed for PROPERTY taxes based on (I believe this is correct) the amount of three months of rent, because of, I would imagine, the fact that RENTERS benefit from COUNTY services (as well as CITY services if they are renting in the city).

Anyone want to guess as to whether the property taxation of RENTERS is still in place? If it is NOT still in place, I imagine that if questioned about taxing renters the response from the taxing authorities would be that the tax is now collected through taxation of the OWNERS of the rental property.

But if only the OWNERS of rental property pay property taxes, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why “unnecessary” bonds keep passing. The number of rental-property OWNERS paying taxes is FAR LESS than renters who pay NO property taxes. If the City/County taxed RENTERS, I doubt if as many wasteful bonds would pass because everyone with a roof over their heads would have a personal “I feel the pinch of that” attitude toward “pretties” instead of “necessities” in the bond arena.

I’m stepping down from my soapbox now. Thank you so much, Mr. Jacobs, for prompting me to get this out of my system (to a certain extent, anyway!).

Didnt we just resoundingly vote down attempts (twice I believe) to have all pay taxes through an additional sales tax? How did you guys vote on that?

I voted for it (but was chastised by more than one person for thinking/voting that way). Oh well, water off a duck's back!

Greensboro's mayor and city council couldn't care less about you. The only thing that concerns them is repaying favors to the developers and realtors that work on their pet projects for them personally.

Rick1 said: "The only thing that concerns them is repaying favors to the developers and realtors that work on their pet projects for them personally."

Rick, you're singing my tune now. I have said for more than 20 years that realtors have no business being involved in governing (and most especially on the various zoning boards/committees).

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that realtors can make money by putting a "hog farm" in a residential area with help from their buddies. The houses nearest the "hog farm" will have to sell. Someone will buy their houses/land at a reduced rate, perhaps because that is all they can afford and they's rather smell hogs than not own a house. Some realtor will get a commission when the house is sold/bought.

The more upheaval in a neighborhood, the more sales of homes and the more money for a realtor. It's called "churning" -- or maybe even "stirring the waters/chumming" as in looking for that sucker who'll take it hook, line, and sinker.

The points about non-property owners being able to vote on bond issues paid for by property taxes has some merit . . . to a point.

Our voting system doesn't allow the distinction between those who do and don't own property, however, and that's actually a good thing. We don't need to recreate a stratified class structure based on property ownership in this country.

Renters don't pay property taxes, this is true. But they do pay, in the form of higher rents. Rental property owners pass along tax increases to the renter. When I was a renter (until a few months ago, happily), my rent went up year after year, with no improvement in services. In fact, getting maintainance of my apartment complex to fix my roof was a royal pain.

Bear in mind too, that most lower income people pay next to nothing in income taxes--a far greater injustice to tax payers than property taxes IMHO. Not trying to be unfair to the low income folks who DO pay their fair share--but I also know too many folks who work just enough to get the earned income tax credit, then quit, and pay no income tax, but rather, get a refund.

The added value tax is much more fair: everyone pays their fair share of tax based on their consumption, and the tax itself would raise far more than either income or property taxes alone.

Panacea, in no way was I advocating denying voting rights to non-property owners.

But surely you will admit that paying that once-a-year property tax bill brings it home to people that there is not a free-ride in this City and/or County.

And as for your rent going to pay for the apartment owner's property taxes, did you actually stop and think about that each time you paid your rent or even once a year when the property owner's property taxes were due?

I truly believe that if everyone (meaning each "head of household") had to dig into his/her own wallet once a year to pay even $30 or $40 then maybe, just maybe, we could have more thoughtful and discerning voters turning out in response to bond proposals.

I would go so far as to change the date that taxes are due and payable. Property taxes due and payble by October 15th each year (shortly before "bond issues" show up on November ballots and during the "swooning" phase of "wouldn't it be wonderful if the City/County had [fill in the blank]") might have the desired effect on some who tend to vote "yes" on "pretties" instead of only on "necessities."

"I truly believe that if everyone (meaning each "head of household") had to dig into his/her own wallet once a year to pay even $30 or $40 then maybe..."

Lotsa luck. Like most folks income taxes are conveniently withheld from their paychecks, property taxes are conveniently rolled into the mortgage payment so no one really notices. Yeah it goes up and the mortgage goes up a bit each month, but no one seems to care.

If people had to hand write income and property tax checks each quarter or even each year you wouldn't see many bonds passed.

The politicians have this scam figured out and the sheep fall peacefully in line.

Nothing worse than a fanatic said: "But surely you will admit that paying that once-a-year property tax bill brings it home to people that there is not a free-ride in this City and/or County."

Sorry, I don't agree. Dan is quite right. Because the tax bill is rolled into the mortgage payment, the only people who truly see their property taxes for the expense that they are, are the folks who've paid off their homes.

And unless the tax increase is at least 500 dollars per year more, I will probably only see an increase in my monthly payment of a few dollars, or even cents.

That being said, I do understand the significance of increasing property taxes . . . but I also knew that as a renter. I voted to increase the sales tax: before I bought my house.

I much prefer being taxed on what I consume rather than on my income or the value of property because I can control my consumption. Less consumption=less taxes.

And since most people don't control their consumption (re live off their credit cards), the government will still collect plenty. And if we as a culture do wake up and start controlling our consumption, we can push for government to be more fiscally responsible: less pork, balanced budgets, and for God's sake, save some money in good times for when the bad times come back!!!

While we are on the subject of property taxes , I have a question: Does a person who owns a $100,000 home get more county twice more services than a person who owns a $50,000 home? No. Then why does a $100,000 dollar homeowner pay double for the amount of services .

It's a shell game. Government gets to tell the poor guy, "we'll be fair and tax you on a percentage of your home's value rather than make you pay a flat tax you might not be able to afford." All the while, tax revenues increase as property values increase but they don't have to set the tax on a yearly basis.

I do not dispute that people who live in Greensboro should pay taxes to Guilford county but it should be at a far lower level that people who are taxed by the county alone.If we are not provided police service by the county our tax bill should reflect that since we are already paying for it from the city.This goes for any service that is duplicated by the city that the county does not have to provide.