Maybe I should ask for a property tax rebate since I don’t have any children or ever intend to?
Parents who home-school or send their children to private school save fellow South Dakota taxpayers more than $50 million a year, and 28 lawmakers think it’s time to give some of that money back.
House Bill 1173 proposes property tax rebates to offset the cost of private school tuition or home-school materials and resources. The benefit would be capped at 80 percent of the per-student allocation — around $3,700 next year per child — so most qualifying families would end up paying no property taxes to public education.
When are people going to realize that investing in education is a universal benefit?
Rob Monson, executive director of School Administrators of South Dakota, said taxpayers shouldn’t be able to get out of a tax just because they don’t directly benefit from the service.
“There are certain things that you pay taxes for that are for the betterment of all,†he said.
Well, Rob, that is not how Republicans think. If they are not directly profiting or benefitting from something, they believe they are being ripped off, even though, they do have the choice to put their kids in public school. As one of my friends said to me about putting his four kids through public school as opposed to private. “I’m paying dearly in property taxes, I am going to take full advantage of the public school system.”