Property Taxes Are Racist!

And Hurt the Young and Poor!

Update: now renters are complaining about high rates. https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/renters-say-omaha-is-not-an-affordable-city-anymore

The Omaha Planning Department has released three downloadable reports below which are worth reading. These reports are about affordable housing (https://rdgusa.mysocialpinpoint.com/omaha-affordable-housing-action-plan). But I condemn the reports for failing to spot the very obvious problems with Nebraska’s tax structure, particularly property taxes, in harming affordable housing and making people poor.

A lot of money went into making these reports. I am stunned, angered, and mortified there is no input from a macro-economist to connect the dots of the problems here. Nebraska’s tax structure relies way too heavily on property taxes which are invisible to many taxpayers. Businesses plead with the City Council for TIFs, in large part, because the banks and lenders insist. This is proof of property taxes being an excessive burden to economic growth.

If Omaha and Douglas County want to counteract poverty and make the City grow, they must convince State Senators to pave a path away from property taxes and toward consumption taxes. Nebraska property taxes need to be reduced by 60 percent to make the state competitive and this can be done. Some object to tax shifts but the property tax system is too punitive and too costly in administrative expenses. If the State funded public schools and placed a limit on their tax levies, this would be a good start but the County and City are not lobbying for any such changes.

Anyways, if you have difficulty reading the images below, magnify the view setting of your internet browser or click on the image to make it pop-up.

Renting is what low-income people do and yet how many landlords raised rents? Survey says!

And what was the number one reason for raising rents? Survey says!

And what races are most disproportionately impacted by rent increases?

And what age group is most impacted by renting which might contribute to the brain drain?

And in these surveys, who understands the impact of property taxes?

What makes people unhappy about their homes?

What keeps people from buying homes?

And yet, more.

So there you have it! You can send comments to the Omaha Planning Board at omahaplanning@cityofomaha.org or attend one of their events as listed at link below:

https://rdgusa.mysocialpinpoint.com/omaha-affordable-housing-action-plan