Why are our local property taxes so high? 

Our local school systems require a great deal of money to provide a good education to our children. Although a good education is essential to the future welfare of our nation, the current method of funding this educational process is not fair to all the citizens living in the towns across America.

Most towns get some funding subsidies from the federal and state governments but most of it comes from local property taxes. For some, especially the elderly who do not have children in the school systems, this tax burden is some times the difference between eating and not eating.

I believe that local schools are the most important asset we have in America. A good education is vital to producing citizens who will eventually be responsible for running this country in the future. It is imperative that they be given the best education that money can buy.

But I also believe that there is a better way to fund it.

There are too many instances where it does not make any sense to continue with the local property tax method of funding our schools. For the old widow who hasn't had any children in the school system for 50 years, there should be a funding formula that is fair.

Yes, everyone, whether they have kids in school or not, should contribute to this most important aspect of our society. But their contributions should be fairly metered out.

First, each school system should provide the same education for each student in every state in the union. Prosperous towns with wealthy inhabitants should not provide a better education to their kids than that which is provided to the children living in towns with less prosperous parents. The nation should institute a general education program for all its citizens to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance at being taught what is necessary to be good and successful citizens.

The federal government should support this education program with tax dollars collected just for this purpose via a federal sales tax. With every dollar spent in America, a penny should be collected to fund this program. These dollars should be equally distributed to each town based on the number of students they have in their schools. And the money can only be used for the school systems. The towns can not use it for any other purpose.

To augment this funding, the local citizens of each town should pay a property tax based on how many children they have attending school. For every child, and based on what it cost to educate them after the federal funding is included, they should have to pay a tax for each student they send to school.

For each resident of the town that does not have any children in school, they should have to pay a support tax since it is in the best interest of all our citizens to produce highly educated citizens. These people should pay the same amount as other residents that have only one child in school.

By funding our school systems this way, we reduce the tax burden on the local town residents and provide an equal education opportunity for each student in each state. We also apply this tax burden in a fair and equitable manner. Especially for those residence who are on fixed incomes.