Saturday, June 22, 2024

Types of People and their Property Taxes

Everyone is really a "type" rather than an individual, just like each domestic dog is a specific breed or maybe a mix of specific breeds that result in specific behavioral tendencies.

I noticed, for example, when we moved into my new neighborhood that my immediate neighbors are really very much like me in terms of the things we own and the things we do as hobbies or as a profession. That happened "accidentally" too. I didn't go around and interview neighbors at each place we might live, I just picked up on some pretty obvious cues about the things people owned, and the things on people's property.

For example, most of my neighbors have a farm tractor and/or other heavy equipment that they maintain and operate themselves. Lots of the neighbors have chickens or other farm animals and even sell eggs or produce from roadside stands, even though they are making high incomes from a job or business. A handful of the neighbors have bee hives and some sell honey. It's very common to hear some power tool running or chainsaws running as people work on projects around their properties. All that stuff signifies some underlying characteristics of the people around here.

Similarly, if I drive or ride my bike through a neighborhood of McMansions, the people there will all have similar stuff.  For example, many will have expensive cars like Teslas or Audis, plus expensive toys like jetskis or side by sides. Most won't have a tractor/heavy equipment. Most will have a fancy house with fancy landscaping they pay someone to do. All that stuff signifies underlying choices and life strategies and views.

When you look at a property tax map, the property taxes people pay match up pretty well with the "types" in each area. In a township sized area, of course there's a mix of "types" of people, but you could actually evaluate their voting record on property taxes, especially, and you'd really see which type dominates each area.

I think there's basically two concepts of "wealth" that span many different types of people. People think in terms of "assets" or "income" basically. Old money families, or a family that got a big lump sum windfall, or people who just pay cash for everything will all be thinking in terms of what they already own, that is, assets. People making a high income, or who at least imagine they do or will eventually often think in terms of payments and what they can "afford", that is, get a loan for. 

Put enough of each type of people in one place, and their outlook and community choices look start to represent their outlook. For example, asset oriented people whether they are Amish or old money types have similar low property tax rates so the roads in fancy old money areas with huge estates are shitty. The roads in my township, with its low tax rates are pretty shitty too. The roads in Amish neighborhoods are terrible.

By contrast if you go to nearby towns or neighborhoods of McMansions the roads and other infrastructure is "good" the school infrastructure is fancy and the property tax rates are also high--maybe close to double that in farmer/old money areas.



The asset oriented people are more self sufficient, generally, and miserly with respect to the community's projects, while the income oriented people are often comically unskilled and all their choices reflect that. The amish for example have their own schools, and old money people send their kids to private schools. By contrast, the high property tax school areas want to press everyone into supporting the expensive community infrastructure, including school infrastructure.

Another side effect of these tendencies is population density in the low property tax areas is substantially lower. High population density requires lots of infrastructure support, like water and sewer lines. If a community won't sign up to build water or sewer infrastructure, the underlying geology and soil conditions dictate the max population density.

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