🎃 The Property Tax Monster That Refuses to Die
Even the velociraptor, banana, and unicorn can’t escape paying rent to the government.
Hello Friends,
Every Halloween, my kids remind me what imagination looks like.
This year, one’s charging around the house as a velociraptor, another’s slipping on a banana costume, and my youngest is galloping through the living room as a unicorn — laughter, chaos, and joy everywhere.
It’s the best kind of crazy.
But as they run around pretending to be dinosaurs and fruit, I can’t help but think: maybe they’ll grow up and realize that the real monster in the room isn’t under the bed — it’s in the tax code.
And this year, that monster is the property tax.
🏠 The Real Horror Story
Imagine this: you work hard, save for years, finally pay off your home… and then the government shows up demanding a yearly ransom just so you can stay in it.
If you refuse, they’ll take it back.
That’s not ownership — that’s permanent rent to the state.
That’s the plotline of America’s longest-running economic horror story.
Thanks to Adam Michel and his Liberty Taxed newsletter. I’m honored he invited me to join it — and grateful to see an issue I’ve spent decades working on with many great people finally getting national attention.
In the latest discussion:
I wrote The Case Against Property Taxes — arguing that true ownership means freedom from perpetual taxation.
Jared Walczak countered with The Free-Market Case for Property Taxes — a thoughtful argument about accountability and local governance.
And Adam Michel, who brought the conversation together (and later at the Cato Institute), reminded us why civil debate still matters in economics.
It’s rare these days to see people disagree with respect, data, and principle — but that’s exactly what happened.
👻 Why the Property Tax Monster Never Dies
The reason property taxes keep coming back, no matter how many times we “reform” them, is that they feed on the one thing politicians can’t resist: spending.
Every time local budgets balloon faster than population and inflation, property taxes rise from the dead.
Every “exemption” or “relief” is just a Band-Aid on a zombie.
Economically speaking, property taxes:
Punish productivity — the more you improve your home, the higher your tax bill.
Discourage investment — people fear adding value when it means paying more.
Fuel government growth — endless appraisals justify endless spending.
As I’ve written across my research and columns, lasting prosperity comes not from tinkering with taxes but from restraining spending and restoring ownership.
We should phase out property taxes entirely and move toward consumption-based systems that reward work, saving, and entrepreneurship.
🦖🍌🦄 Economics at Home
Back at my house, the velociraptor just stole candy from the banana, and the unicorn is defending her bucket with glitter-covered fury.
It’s a hilarious reminder that incentives matter — even in Halloween economics.
People (and kids) respond to incentives. So do governments.
If we reward overspending, we’ll get more of it.
If we reward responsibility and ownership, we’ll get prosperity.
The same principles I teach my kids — work hard, tell the truth, take responsibility — are the same ones that built this country. And they’re the same ones property taxes erode, little by little, every year.
💀 The Lesson Beneath the Mask
So yes, this Halloween, while the costumes go back in the closet and the candy wrappers pile up, the property tax monster will still be lurking — waiting for the next appraisal notice to hit mailboxes.
But there’s good news: people are waking up. States must rein in state and local government spending and finally slay this fiscal beast: property taxes.
The debate sparked by Adam Michel at Liberty Taxed isn’t just about numbers — it’s about the philosophy of freedom. And the more we talk about it, the more light we shine on the monster in the dark.
Blessings,
Vance Ginn, Ph.D.
