Taxes suck

Yesterday a special election was held to increase funding for the local hospital. Their emergency room resources have been seriously over extended for several years now because illegal Mexicans have been using it as a free clinic. The current law forbids the emergency room staff from turning anyone away to claims to have need. The increase would raise the hospital property tax to 59 cents per $1,000 assessed value of property. What they did not tell anyone; that I had to look up on my own is that the current property tax is 9 cents per $1,000 assessed value. Top that with the fact that assessed property values in my neighborhood are significantly higher than the market value of these properties. I’d expect the market value to decrease around here because the neighborhood is rapidly declining as the houses age and are not being properly maintained by their residents, many of whom don’t speak English or any understandable dialect.