June 13, 2012 09:48 PM UTC

North Dakota Voters Decide Property Taxes Make Sense

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• by: Colorado Pols

As MSNBC reports:

North Dakota voters on Tuesday soundly rejected a ballot measure that sought to make the oil-rich state the first to abolish property taxes, a move critics said would have undermined local governments and forced an increase in taxes overall.

The measure, which would have required state lawmakers to come up with a way to replace $812 million in lost property tax revenues for 2012 alone, was defeated by a vote of 77.5 percent to 22.5 percent, with 70 percent of precincts reporting.

A varied coalition organized opposition to the measure, including the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, which said it was looking for “broad based” reform of personal income, corporate and sales taxes as well as property taxes.

We won’t have to make that choice in Colorado — at least not in 2012. Two conservatives from Colorado Springs had been trying to get a measure on the ballot in our state to eliminate property taxes, but just recently threw in the towel on that effort. The Colorado Statesman explains:

Samuel Babcock and his sister, Elise Van Grinsven – both from the Colorado Springs area – had proposed the conservative-leaning initiatives after having discussions around the “kitchen table,” according to Babcock…

…“We’re neighbors; we’re working people trying to find work to stay alive and stay afloat,” said Babcock, a 34-year-old unaffiliated voter who is currently finishing his master’s degree in mental health counseling and looking for work. [Pols emphasis]

The state title board ruled in April that the property tax measure violated the “single subject rule” and would not make the ballot, but the fact that the idea even got that far is scary to say the least. Many local governments in Colorado rely on property tax revenue to fund silly things like schools, firefighters and police officers.

It’s telling that one of the proponents of this measure, quoted above, calls himself among “working people,” even though he doesn’t actually have a job himself.