You know you are getting old when the political solicitations you receive are targeted at the elderly.
The local school district here in Midland, Texas, wants voters to authorize a $163 million bond on election day. And their supporters have made a very earnest effort to persuade the electorate that taxpayers need to take on more debt. Previously on these pages see local government bond debt still under a billion -- school district hopes to change that.
So the particular solicitations -- two since I started saving them -- were either signed by or show photos of some prominent locals who beseech the recipient to vote "For" the bond with the assurance that it will not cause the recipients school tax to increase.
Here's why. The state of Texas allows qualified property owners to get an "over 65" exemption which caps the property owner's school taxes. From the Texas Comptroller:
What is a homestead tax ceiling?
It is a limit on the amount of taxes you must pay on your residence. If you qualify your home for a 65 and older or disabled person homestead exemption for school taxes, the school taxes on that home can't increase as long as you own and live in that home. The tax ceiling is the amount you pay in the year that you qualified for the 65 or older or disabled person exemption. The school taxes on your home may go below the ceiling but not above the amount of the ceiling. However, if you improve the home (other than normal repairs or maintenance), the tax ceiling may go higher because of the new additions. For example, if you add on a garage or game room to the house after you have established a tax ceiling, the ceiling will be adjusted to a higher level to reflect the value of that addition.
The legislative rationale was probably that senior citizens would not likely have children in the school system and shouldn't have to pay so much for educating other people's children. But the practical effect is the creation of a class of voters who can vote to raise the tax on another class of voters.
All eight of the individuals whose signatures appear on one of the solicitations show up as property owners in the Midland Central Appraisal District search engine. Furthermore, the search engine shows that all eight have claimed the over "65 exemption." That means their school taxes were locked in as of the year they applied for the exemption.
A few years ago some MISD board member was talking about working to eliminate the over 65 exemption. But they figured out how to use it to their advantage. A vote for the bond by someone with the exemption is in effect a vote for someone else to pay the extra tax. So the senior citizen who votes for the bond has nothing to lose. It's a very clever marketing strategy on behalf of the bond advocates. As for pitting the old against the young, what could possibly go wrong?
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