Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

I agree with Justice Holmes 100 %.

Taxation without representation is tyranny.

James Otis

I agree with James Otis 100 %.

Every American should willingly support the process of paying taxes for the benefit of Americans at every level of our society. It is by paying taxes that we enjoy the freedoms and blessings of a democratic society.

The freedoms we receive by supporting legal taxation are based on the concept of shared wealth. If the fortunate are willing to share with the less fortunate all citizens are raised to a higher level.

However it is the undemocratic tax without representation that destroys the faith of the citizens of this country in our government.

One such method of undemocratic taxation is the appraisal district. When taxing authorities base their tax collections on raising appraisal values of property rather than raising tax rates, the citizens of that community lose the democratic gift of representative taxation. The citizens may protest the appraised evaluations, but they have no power to change the decisions of the appraisal boards. These boards have no effective oversight. The idea that a citizen review board selected by the central appraisal district is a remedy is a canard. The inherent conflict of interest between the central appraisal district and the citizen review board, whether real and/or imaginary, is beyond question.

The central appraisal district is hired by the taxing entity. For example the local school board hires the appraisal district to set property values as the basis of determining local property evaluations and thereby effecting the level of tax income of the school board. This inherent conflict of interest is beyond question because there is pressure on the hireling to satisfy the employer. The average citizen is at the mercy of the appraiser in determining the amount of tax they pay on their property. The appraiser’s allegiance is to those that pay their salary and not to the citizen that is being indirectly taxed without representation. The elected officials of the taxing entities are happy to allow this undemocratic process to continue because they don’t have to face public scrutiny and can boast that they are not increasing tax rates. Just another canard inflicted upon an unsuspecting citizenry.

The solution to this problem will require an overhaul of the taxing systems that support our democratic principles. That is a subject for later discussion.