VOTING AND TAXES
Living in Boston Township has its good points and bad points, as every community has. This past summer I have become aware that, through some discussions with friends, there is something I hadn’t thought about, namely, the relationship of voting and taxation in our township. I am coming from the perspective of a property owner and one who is obligated to pay taxes for the support of the community where I live.
In most communities all of the land is personal property, business property, government property for courts, police & fire, etc. and property for non-profits. In our township the community gets the majority of its funding from both the personal property taxes and business property taxes. The property owners in the community can raise or lower their personal property taxes by voting for or against tax proposals that are on the ballot. Our community taxes fall into the following categories; Summit County (20%), Boston Township (12%), Woodridge Schools (55%), Akron Summit County Library (3%), Valley Fire District (9%) and Union Cemetery Association of Boston Township (1.5%). The percentages are the how much property owners pay based on the value of the property. Unfortunately, there are voters in the Boston Township community who can vote to raise these taxes, but are not obligated in any way to pay them! After that statement, I believe that I now have the property owner’s attention.
Let me explain; the majority of Boston Township is owned by the federal government and is exempt from paying any taxes. They have park-owned housing for those who work for the park (I don’t know if they are renting them or not-it doesn’t really matter either way) and the park has been leasing back farms that families now live on. These people live in the Township voting district and if they register to vote, they vote on the issues that pertain to our district. The issue I have is they get to vote on tax increases, yet they never have to pay for any of the increases that they impose on others; me and the other property taxpayers get to pay for it. Please don’t take this to mean that I want to take voting rights away from the people that live on federal government property, they have the right to vote as long as they are a citizen. But they should not vote on tax issues that impose the obligation to pay the taxes on others while they are under no obligation to pay them. I would like to clarify one other thing; I am not talking about people who rent or lease property from personal or business owners, because if the renters decide to raise taxes, they will pay it in the form of higher rent from the owner. In November we will have another opportunity to vote. Please consider how your vote will impact others and whether or not you will be impacted. Of course if you really feel compelled to contribute to the support of our community, don’t vote to raise the taxes, just send your gift (of any amount) to the Trustees.
I hope to get some feedback either way about this issue. You can email me at ray.hach@juno.com.
| Ray Hach Boston Township |