Tax Increases ARE a Problem

Jun 8, 2015

It is normal to feel empathy with people whose lives are similar to your own. It is solidarity at its most basic level.

That is why a feeling of horror was the reaction earlier this year when NBC news showed video of a Ford Rouge auto worker being beaten by an Inkster police officer, blood pouring from his face.

This video, along with community protests, resulted in the City of Inkster agreeing to settle a civil lawsuit for 1.4 million dollars in compensation.

Ever since this settlement was announced, though, the media has gone on a divisive propaganda campaign. They decry the one-time increase in property taxes levied on Inkster homeowners to pay for the settlement. They are blaming the worker who was beaten for the taxes the city is demanding!

Similarly, retirees from Wayne County recently caught a break when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in workers’ favor. The court ordered a one-time payment of more than 49 million dollars into the Wayne County Pension Fund to reimburse for a skipped payment in 2010. The county is about to demand a one-time increase in property taxes on homeowners to pay for that.

This news barrage about property tax increases seems aimed at convincing the general public that we should have no sense of solidarity with retirees from the county or with a worker who was brutalized by police.

Where is the wall-to-wall coverage about how little “developers” and corporations are paying in property taxes–shifting an ever increasing burden on home owners?

Yes, media outlets, it IS unfair to ask the poorest homeowners to pay more in property taxes. So, how about this? Get on your high horse and demand that wealthy “developers”–the main ones who drain municipal budgets in the first place–“pony up” and pay for these settlements. THAT would be FAIR!