I remember when Mrs. Planner and I bought our first place right out of college. It was a small two story condo on the northeast side of Naptown. It was a great place, and I had a lot of pride in our first property. I felt like I had my 40 acres and a mule, except that my 40 acres was actually 1400 sq feet and my mule was an overweight rock eating pug. Face it, I was a kid with a piece of property, and didn't really realize what home ownership meant. I soured quickly on the whole concept the day I got my first property tax bill. It didn't make sense to me. Cal Ewing, the patron saint of high school economics, never taught us anything about property tax. But apparently it was a normal thing, and the town of Fishers wasn't just sticking to me and my new bride. Property tax is a strange concept for a young person. I own something, yet I have to pay someone else money to own it in their municipality. I realized that it paid for schools and things, but I was 22 and didn't have any kids that would go to any of those pricey schools.

Over time, I have grown to kinda understand property tax. I realize now that all of my property tax goes into creating roundabouts at every four-way stop in my city. Sometimes I don't know whether I am in London or in Clay Township. Like I said, my understanding of property taxes has increased...until recently. The city of Naptown recently raised property taxes significantly. I, obviously, am a proponent of household budgeting, so how is someone supposed to budget for significant increases in property taxes. Your property may increase in value, but that isn't reflected in your cash flow. How do older people on fixed incomes handle the increase in property taxes? Many times they don't use half the services that a municipality provides, yet they usually get hit real hard with property tax increases. I'm not being Robin Hood. The wealthy have it just as bad, if not worse. Let's say you make a brilliant real estate decision, and you own a home that is sky rocketing in value. The real estate is an investment, not income. Yet, you are drilled with property tax increases that severely affect your cash flow. How does a $10k tax bill sound for you? You were just trying to make a good investment, and all of the sudden you have a cash flow issue.

I am perplexed by this, but not perplexed enough to start my own country in the woods, and start a militia. I am not tough enough to be in a militia. Militia members usually have beards, and I have trouble growing a long beard. A peach fuzz beard has never intimidated the government. Militia men usually can fight pretty well in hand to hand combat, but I doubt my slap-fighting style would be accepted. Oh well, I will just pay my property tax bill.