Lets be clear and honest about property rights in America which is to say Americans do not have property rights and they haven't in a long time thanks to government or more specifically, the would be tyrants within government that seek to effectively rule over we peasants; thats how they view us.
How is it Americans don't have property rights? Property taxes nullify real property rights. It is an annual rent payment to the local government who is your landlord and just as is the case with being evicted if you don't pay rent when renting, if you don't pay the annual rent the government demands they will evict you and take your home.
Thanks to a SCOTUS ruling these local governments when they confiscate your home and sell it, can no longer keep any money from that sale that is greater than the amount you owe in property taxes. That however is a ruling within the last couple if years. Prior to that some local governments did keep everything regardless if you owed very little. You could have a million dollar home and owe as little as a few thousand and these government thugs would take it all leaving you with nothing. That said, these local governments that were keeping it all before can still make sure you get little to nothing from the sell by selling the home for as little as the amount you owe and sell it to one of their friends in development who then returns the favor via some form of kickback.
What's unacceptable about property taxation is how its done. The need to fund local services is reasonable, it is how they do it that is not! There is zero correlation between the value of ones home and the cost of local services like education and emergency services, and yet these local governments claim it is. There is zero justification for not simply budgeting the cost of these services taxes fund and then dividing up that cost by the applicable residents in the county and directly billing each resident for their part. The reason the local government prefers the property taxation method is that it offers up the chance to confiscate homes for failure to pay which these thugs can then sell to builders they have relationships with to get their own rewards via kickbacks. But the main reason they prefer the property taxation method is that it offers them the ability to get more in taxes than they actually need and in years when property values go up more than the average as they have recently, it provides them with a lot more money which they use to fund new services. That may sound like a good idea, providing citizens with more services, however those then become permanent new services that must be funded annually requiring even more in property taxation. These additional services are also targeted at specific groups to encourage those groups to then vote for whatever political party pushed for and created the service. They use the extra $$ from our property taxes to purchase votes for the political party they are affiliated with.
Property taxation ensures that no American has true property rights. There are some things homeowners can do that renters can't but in the end if either doesn't pay the rent to the landlord be that a rental property owner or the local government, both will be evicted and if you live in one of the corrupt counties that prior to the SCOTUS ruling would keep all the money from the sale of your property, you are still at risk of being screwed if they decide to do something that still ensures you get nothing by selling your property for what you owe or some other dirty trick the court ruling doesn't take into account. If anything, the government thugs who are like this are creative and always find work-a-rounds to achieve their goal.
Until the method of property taxation is made illegal along with making it illegal for the local government to so easily take your home for non payment of the governments annual rent, Americans have no real property rights, we just tell ourselves we do!
Spot on. In so many ways, Americans don’t actually have real property rights anymore, and we haven’t for a long time. Property taxes turn the government into your landlord: miss the annual “rent,” and they evict you and sell your home. The corruption, the kickbacks, the way they inflate values to fund vote-buying services… It’s all exactly as ugly as you describe.
And yet, as bad as property taxes are (an annual fine just for existing on your land), zoning is an even more profound negation of property rights.
Taxes (in lieu of land use policy) at least let you decide what to build or how to use your property, as long as you pay the bill. Zoning strips away that decision-making authority entirely. It’s not just a fee; it’s preemptive micromanagement of every possible choice you could ever make with your own land. You can’t add an ADU for your aging parents. You can’t build a small shop or café to live near work. You can’t even change the use of your own parcel based on what actually makes sense on the ground. The government draws a line on a map and says, “This is what peasants are allowed to do here — forever.”
That’s why our mission at Build The American Dream is bigger than fixing taxes, though plenty of groups have done great work in that area. We’re working to slash every way government limits real property rights and dramatically widen the “by-right” authority every American should have: do what you will with your own land, as long as it doesn’t create real, measurable harm for your neighbors.
Neutral rules instead of rigid zoning. Clear standards focused on actual harms instead of bureaucratic veto power.
But the bias should always be in favor of the sovereign liberty of the individual.
If theres one thing those within government like as much as money and power is control like the kind of control those hoops create. These hoops are sometimes used as incentives for some to try and bypass these hoops via some form of bribe to the person's in the government who control those hoops and can help some get past them for the right price.
A young man with two children in elementary school, a wife, and a young adult step son, added two bedrooms and a bathroom to their small home. The basement and roof were outsourced, but he used his time, sweat, skill, and blood to construct the addition over almost a year. An inspector frequented the site. Once completed, the city immediately reassessed the property and significantly raised his taxes .. in 2026, an increase of over $800 per month for taxes and insurance... now his home is unaffordable. Someone said he should have known.
It is so bizarre that we punish people for improving their homes. Not all countries do this. Property taxes are among the hardest targets in public policy, but they need to be addressed.
David, their not punishing so much as using the change to the property as an excuse to squeeze the homeowner for more $$ that the local government can use for things beyond the funding of existing needed services. Depending on the political affiliation of the local government they seek to create as many additional services as they can to create a dependency loop and purchase votes for the party that created the service. For example lets say some county with a large metropolitan area brings in extra $$ from property taxes bc that year the market rate was higher than normal as we've seen hapoen during covid. The local government uses that to create a new government funded baby sitting service so mothers have free child care vs having to pay for private child care. This creates a dependency loop bc once the mothers do this they will find it impossible to go back to paying for child care as they will have altered there lifestyle such as buying a car the previously could not afford bc they had to pay for child care. This means that regardless of how the mothers feel about the people running for office in the local government they will feel obliged to vote for whoever is with the political party that created the free child care bc they will fear that if that party looses control of the local government the other party may end the free child care program putting those who use and depend on it, in a jam.
This is how one political party creates a dependency with the citizenry and they do it using excess funding from property taxation.
Whats wrong is property taxation period! It not only nullifies real property rights but its a tool for corruption and theft. There is zero correlation between the cost of local services which property taxes fund and the value if a home. Regardless of the value of a home all are alloed the same number of trash and recycling bins for pick up and so it doesn't cost more to get the trash at a million dollar home than it does a home valued at 100,000! The local governments do it thos way bc it provides them with more money than theyd get if the direct billed each homeowner their share of the cost of the services. They use that extra $$ to create new services, often targeted at select groups, to then encourage that group to vote for the political party that pushed for the new services. Our property taxes are used to purchase votes and not just to fund legitimate and necessary services!
...and they do love regulations. They have so many ways to getcha. Now please excuse me while I go pay my rent to the government...I mean real estate taxes.
When John’s libertarian fever dream comes true and we’re rid of the tyranny of zoning laws and traffic lights I think that just for fun I’ll figure out which Austin suburb Dad* lives in and buy out his neighbors on either side. I’ll put in an oil recycling center on one side and a rendering works on the other. Free enterprise will dominate in our bright, shiny, future.
That’s a vividly painted straw man. Impressive literary work, but it has nothing to do with the substance of the argument.
But to respond to the little substance there is, the issue of third-party effects has been addressed for a very, very long time. Long before zoning and micromanaging property use through 5-year plans. In the Western tradition, they are typically negotiated through nuisance law and use-neutral ordinances. The problem is not the construction of steel mills next to apartment buildings; it’s local governments preventing a developer from building some apartments over a coffee shop because they are worried about “oversupply”.
Agree and disagree. Building codes, for the most part, are a net plus. Zoning laws can serve a good purpose (ie buffering residential areas from industrial zones). The problems arise when some people/politicians understand how such things can be manipulated for profit and power. And to that the natural propensity for governments and bureaucracies to grow in size and become more authoritarian, and then, there you are face to face with an age old quandary. Some form of order, basic rules, and compliance mechanisms are absolutely necessary, but once you start, it’s so hard to stop. I used to think political parties were the primary problem, but now I think it’s more systemic. Too many experts, too many laws, too much wealth/power disparity.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply! Totally agree that there can be a role for safety, and I get the original intent behind zoning—like trying to buffer homes from heavy industry.
Where I push back is that zoning itself is the wrong tool for those concerns. It locks in rigid use categories across whole districts before anyone knows what will actually be built or how it will perform on the ground. Much less than consumer demand or technological change. The real problems (noise, pollution, specific kinds of traffic, odors, etc.) are site-specific and fact-dependent—humans have a limited ability to predict them in advance.
Instead, we should use neutral, performance-based ordinances that define clear, measurable harms and enforce them equally on any use—residential, commercial, light industrial, whatever. If a coffee shop or small workshop meets the standards for decibels, emissions, parking, and setbacks, it shouldn’t be banned just because it’s “the wrong zone.”
That approach maintains genuine order without the bureaucratic overreach and special-interest capture/public-choice economics problems you mentioned.
David, i believe zoning like many things government does,vwas well intentioned but went poorly because of nefarious and corrupt actors within the system who seek to abuse tools like zoning for their own goals and money isn't always that goal. They could simply believe that they know best how things should work, like central planners, and we know tgat no person or group of persons can bettter plan these things than simply allowing the free market to do it. Thats not to say there should be no restrictions as some within the fre market will abuse if not kept in check, but that its simply not possible for central planing to perform better than the free market can.
I enjoyed the piece with one point that i did a separate reply to and tgat is the fact that we do not have actual property rights. Central planner is bad and must be done away with however the current method local governments use for property taxation is equally as bad and also has to be dealt with!
Lets be clear and honest about property rights in America which is to say Americans do not have property rights and they haven't in a long time thanks to government or more specifically, the would be tyrants within government that seek to effectively rule over we peasants; thats how they view us.
How is it Americans don't have property rights? Property taxes nullify real property rights. It is an annual rent payment to the local government who is your landlord and just as is the case with being evicted if you don't pay rent when renting, if you don't pay the annual rent the government demands they will evict you and take your home.
Thanks to a SCOTUS ruling these local governments when they confiscate your home and sell it, can no longer keep any money from that sale that is greater than the amount you owe in property taxes. That however is a ruling within the last couple if years. Prior to that some local governments did keep everything regardless if you owed very little. You could have a million dollar home and owe as little as a few thousand and these government thugs would take it all leaving you with nothing. That said, these local governments that were keeping it all before can still make sure you get little to nothing from the sell by selling the home for as little as the amount you owe and sell it to one of their friends in development who then returns the favor via some form of kickback.
What's unacceptable about property taxation is how its done. The need to fund local services is reasonable, it is how they do it that is not! There is zero correlation between the value of ones home and the cost of local services like education and emergency services, and yet these local governments claim it is. There is zero justification for not simply budgeting the cost of these services taxes fund and then dividing up that cost by the applicable residents in the county and directly billing each resident for their part. The reason the local government prefers the property taxation method is that it offers up the chance to confiscate homes for failure to pay which these thugs can then sell to builders they have relationships with to get their own rewards via kickbacks. But the main reason they prefer the property taxation method is that it offers them the ability to get more in taxes than they actually need and in years when property values go up more than the average as they have recently, it provides them with a lot more money which they use to fund new services. That may sound like a good idea, providing citizens with more services, however those then become permanent new services that must be funded annually requiring even more in property taxation. These additional services are also targeted at specific groups to encourage those groups to then vote for whatever political party pushed for and created the service. They use the extra $$ from our property taxes to purchase votes for the political party they are affiliated with.
Property taxation ensures that no American has true property rights. There are some things homeowners can do that renters can't but in the end if either doesn't pay the rent to the landlord be that a rental property owner or the local government, both will be evicted and if you live in one of the corrupt counties that prior to the SCOTUS ruling would keep all the money from the sale of your property, you are still at risk of being screwed if they decide to do something that still ensures you get nothing by selling your property for what you owe or some other dirty trick the court ruling doesn't take into account. If anything, the government thugs who are like this are creative and always find work-a-rounds to achieve their goal.
Until the method of property taxation is made illegal along with making it illegal for the local government to so easily take your home for non payment of the governments annual rent, Americans have no real property rights, we just tell ourselves we do!
Spot on. In so many ways, Americans don’t actually have real property rights anymore, and we haven’t for a long time. Property taxes turn the government into your landlord: miss the annual “rent,” and they evict you and sell your home. The corruption, the kickbacks, the way they inflate values to fund vote-buying services… It’s all exactly as ugly as you describe.
And yet, as bad as property taxes are (an annual fine just for existing on your land), zoning is an even more profound negation of property rights.
Taxes (in lieu of land use policy) at least let you decide what to build or how to use your property, as long as you pay the bill. Zoning strips away that decision-making authority entirely. It’s not just a fee; it’s preemptive micromanagement of every possible choice you could ever make with your own land. You can’t add an ADU for your aging parents. You can’t build a small shop or café to live near work. You can’t even change the use of your own parcel based on what actually makes sense on the ground. The government draws a line on a map and says, “This is what peasants are allowed to do here — forever.”
That’s why our mission at Build The American Dream is bigger than fixing taxes, though plenty of groups have done great work in that area. We’re working to slash every way government limits real property rights and dramatically widen the “by-right” authority every American should have: do what you will with your own land, as long as it doesn’t create real, measurable harm for your neighbors.
Neutral rules instead of rigid zoning. Clear standards focused on actual harms instead of bureaucratic veto power.
But the bias should always be in favor of the sovereign liberty of the individual.
And the hoops he had to jump through to ensure everything met code!!!
Punish is a good word. It seems predatory.
If theres one thing those within government like as much as money and power is control like the kind of control those hoops create. These hoops are sometimes used as incentives for some to try and bypass these hoops via some form of bribe to the person's in the government who control those hoops and can help some get past them for the right price.
A young man with two children in elementary school, a wife, and a young adult step son, added two bedrooms and a bathroom to their small home. The basement and roof were outsourced, but he used his time, sweat, skill, and blood to construct the addition over almost a year. An inspector frequented the site. Once completed, the city immediately reassessed the property and significantly raised his taxes .. in 2026, an increase of over $800 per month for taxes and insurance... now his home is unaffordable. Someone said he should have known.
This is a true and real story.
SOMETHING IS WRONG.
It is so bizarre that we punish people for improving their homes. Not all countries do this. Property taxes are among the hardest targets in public policy, but they need to be addressed.
David, their not punishing so much as using the change to the property as an excuse to squeeze the homeowner for more $$ that the local government can use for things beyond the funding of existing needed services. Depending on the political affiliation of the local government they seek to create as many additional services as they can to create a dependency loop and purchase votes for the party that created the service. For example lets say some county with a large metropolitan area brings in extra $$ from property taxes bc that year the market rate was higher than normal as we've seen hapoen during covid. The local government uses that to create a new government funded baby sitting service so mothers have free child care vs having to pay for private child care. This creates a dependency loop bc once the mothers do this they will find it impossible to go back to paying for child care as they will have altered there lifestyle such as buying a car the previously could not afford bc they had to pay for child care. This means that regardless of how the mothers feel about the people running for office in the local government they will feel obliged to vote for whoever is with the political party that created the free child care bc they will fear that if that party looses control of the local government the other party may end the free child care program putting those who use and depend on it, in a jam.
This is how one political party creates a dependency with the citizenry and they do it using excess funding from property taxation.
Whats wrong is property taxation period! It not only nullifies real property rights but its a tool for corruption and theft. There is zero correlation between the cost of local services which property taxes fund and the value if a home. Regardless of the value of a home all are alloed the same number of trash and recycling bins for pick up and so it doesn't cost more to get the trash at a million dollar home than it does a home valued at 100,000! The local governments do it thos way bc it provides them with more money than theyd get if the direct billed each homeowner their share of the cost of the services. They use that extra $$ to create new services, often targeted at select groups, to then encourage that group to vote for the political party that pushed for the new services. Our property taxes are used to purchase votes and not just to fund legitimate and necessary services!
...and they do love regulations. They have so many ways to getcha. Now please excuse me while I go pay my rent to the government...I mean real estate taxes.
When John’s libertarian fever dream comes true and we’re rid of the tyranny of zoning laws and traffic lights I think that just for fun I’ll figure out which Austin suburb Dad* lives in and buy out his neighbors on either side. I’ll put in an oil recycling center on one side and a rendering works on the other. Free enterprise will dominate in our bright, shiny, future.
That’s a vividly painted straw man. Impressive literary work, but it has nothing to do with the substance of the argument.
But to respond to the little substance there is, the issue of third-party effects has been addressed for a very, very long time. Long before zoning and micromanaging property use through 5-year plans. In the Western tradition, they are typically negotiated through nuisance law and use-neutral ordinances. The problem is not the construction of steel mills next to apartment buildings; it’s local governments preventing a developer from building some apartments over a coffee shop because they are worried about “oversupply”.
Agree and disagree. Building codes, for the most part, are a net plus. Zoning laws can serve a good purpose (ie buffering residential areas from industrial zones). The problems arise when some people/politicians understand how such things can be manipulated for profit and power. And to that the natural propensity for governments and bureaucracies to grow in size and become more authoritarian, and then, there you are face to face with an age old quandary. Some form of order, basic rules, and compliance mechanisms are absolutely necessary, but once you start, it’s so hard to stop. I used to think political parties were the primary problem, but now I think it’s more systemic. Too many experts, too many laws, too much wealth/power disparity.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply! Totally agree that there can be a role for safety, and I get the original intent behind zoning—like trying to buffer homes from heavy industry.
Where I push back is that zoning itself is the wrong tool for those concerns. It locks in rigid use categories across whole districts before anyone knows what will actually be built or how it will perform on the ground. Much less than consumer demand or technological change. The real problems (noise, pollution, specific kinds of traffic, odors, etc.) are site-specific and fact-dependent—humans have a limited ability to predict them in advance.
Instead, we should use neutral, performance-based ordinances that define clear, measurable harms and enforce them equally on any use—residential, commercial, light industrial, whatever. If a coffee shop or small workshop meets the standards for decibels, emissions, parking, and setbacks, it shouldn’t be banned just because it’s “the wrong zone.”
That approach maintains genuine order without the bureaucratic overreach and special-interest capture/public-choice economics problems you mentioned.
I did an article & video release on this multi-use issue this week. Let me know what you think. https://buildtheamericandream.org/p/why-they-wont-let-you-live-near-work
David, i believe zoning like many things government does,vwas well intentioned but went poorly because of nefarious and corrupt actors within the system who seek to abuse tools like zoning for their own goals and money isn't always that goal. They could simply believe that they know best how things should work, like central planners, and we know tgat no person or group of persons can bettter plan these things than simply allowing the free market to do it. Thats not to say there should be no restrictions as some within the fre market will abuse if not kept in check, but that its simply not possible for central planing to perform better than the free market can.
I enjoyed the piece with one point that i did a separate reply to and tgat is the fact that we do not have actual property rights. Central planner is bad and must be done away with however the current method local governments use for property taxation is equally as bad and also has to be dealt with!
Glad you liked it. Hope you check out our content at https://buildtheamericandream.org/ too