UPDATE: North Dakota Abolishment of Property Taxes Fails 22.5 percent to 77.5 percent [Source].
North Dakota Voters will face Measure 2 on their ballot tomorrow, Tuesday, June 12 2012, a measure to restore Natural Property Rights and true ownership to property-owning citizens who are required to pay rent on what they purchased to escape rent. In Measure Two’s own words,
“Taxes upon real property, which were used before 2012 to fund the operations of counties, cities, townships, school districts, park districts, water districts, irrigation districts, fire protection districts, soil conservation districts, and other political subdivisions with authority to levy property taxes must be replaced with revenues from the proceeds of state sales taxes, individual and corporate income taxes, oil and gas production and extraction taxes, tobacco taxes, lottery revenues, financial institutions taxes, and other state resources”
Measure 2 highlights the importance of property rights and the hypocrisy of a property tax. Who really holds ownership of land and estate if it is specifically taxed for its nature without appeal or contract? What is the benefit of owning property, if in addition to paying for ownership of the property, a large tax is levied that discourages property ownership, discourages savings, and hinders the quality of life for every hard working citizen?
According to the New York Times, opposition to this legislation includes many State Employees and Unions, which oppose this bill because it would limit funds to expand government programs, departments, and police. What many are not saying, is that this is another point of the bill, one of the most important and most beneficial.
“Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own” -James Madison
No longer will bureaucrats and politicians be able to take taxpayer salary as tax on their property and use it to expand the police state and government sector which only steals and damages the private sector.
Of course many unions and state employees oppose the bill, because they know that the 812 million dollars in yearly tax revenue is important to fund monitoring citizens, searching their vehicles and persons, and creating more programs and departments which require more taxpayer dollars.
They skip over the morality over the decision and the private ownership and private market that has created capital that is even able to be taxed in the first place. They assume that without large government, the services government pretends and alleges to protect will be without delivery. But as the market does when you are looking for a specific food, for a specific vehicle, for a specific area to travel, and for many other needs and wants, it will arise to deliver those services in a ever increasing rate of efficiency and at an expanding technological standard.
As pointed out in this video in support of Measure 2, which includes Presidential Candidate Ron Paul and other Rights advocates, and as highlighted within the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, ownership of property is a Right.
“No person shall be held to answer…nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation” -Constitution of the United States
As is the right to pursue happiness, is the right to property. The ability of property to exist and be added to matches the ability for oneself to be independent and improve upon himself. The ability to use property as wished matches the right of the individual to study what he wishes, and to make choices and experience their consequences and reap their benefits. Without property, there is no right to.
‘‘As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights’’ -James Madison
Measure 2 and Natural Property Rights face tough competition tomorrow, but what the oppositon can not experience nor comprehend, is that North Dakotans will strengthen property rights through vote and legislation at this point, or they will strengthen property rights in the minds of men, and soon, record their thoughts in the form of legislation that will be passed into law in the near future.
An idea does not stop merely because of a vote, it stops at the presence of a better idea, and what is a better idea than the right to property? At one point, this idea will reach enough responsible individuals and motivate action.
I urge all North Dakotans to vote YES on Measure 2 and restore your natural and individual right to property so that you may rightly enjoy your freedom and more fully reap the fruits of your labor.
Ahmed Serag
