Clearly, we do not really own “our” property, but “rent” it from our local governments. Retirees, who own their home “free and clear” after decades of mortgage payments, are often forced to sell because their property taxes have risen with inflation to exceed what their mortgage payment used to be. Property taxes amount to, in practice, a kind of rent you have to pay the government each year to be allowed to keep living on your own property! Eminent domain and property taxes have made a mockery of the American dream of home ownership. Individuals no longer truly “own” their property! ~~~Mary J. Ruwart Ph.D.
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