To the taxpayers of Oakland County,
The power to tax is the power to destroy. No truer words were ever said.
The Oakland Schools are proposing a new millage of 1.5 mills for the entire county. School districts are being asked to support placing the new 1.5 mill tax on the ballot.
The Holly School District, in supporting placing this new tax on the ballot, said that the owner of a $200,000 home would only pay an additional $152 per year. The problem is that the average home in Oakland County is almost $400,000.
This means the average homeowner would pay closer to $300 more per year. This tax will be spread over all property in Oakland County, approximately 30,000 acres of farmland, apartments, industrial land and commercial.
The tax will raise $131,701,510 the first year, and with Proposal A, it will go up every year by 5% or therate of inflation, whichever is lower. I am a huge opponent of property taxes. Property owners should one day own their property; however, if a local school district places a property tax proposal on the ballot and it passes, all those taxes collected remain in that school district.
That is not the case with this Oakland School County-wide tax. Many school districts will become donor school districts, and your tax dollars will go to other districts.
Unfortunately, many taxing units of government have never met a property tax they don’t like. Remember the customer always pays. This new tax would be passed on in the forrn of higher rent, retail goods, food, fuel, etc.
This tax should never see the light of day. I urge a ‘no’ vote.
Bob HoffmanOakland County Commissioner District 7
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Vote ‘no’ on Oakland School millage | Letter to the editor
Reporting by Letter to the editor / The Detroit News
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By Letter to the editor | USA TODAY Network
