The position taken by Stephen Walbridge (“Letter to the editor: Taxing property to support public services makes perfect sense,” May 23) actually makes no sense at all.
There undoubtedly was a time in the history of this nation when property ownership correlated with income and/or wealth; i.e., the ability to pay.
Mr. Walbridge has evidently not noticed, however, that things have changed over the last couple of hundred years.
Property ownership today, for the vast majority of individuals, is generally associated with homeownership, not income-producing property.
The property tax should be scaled back drastically in this day and age.
This is not to imply that the public services mentioned by Mr. Walbridge (education, health care, security) should not be supported by some form of taxation.
I would suggest, however, that greater reliance on the income tax, an elevated level of revenue sharing between state and municipal government, and a corresponding decrease in the property tax would constitute a much more progressive form of taxation.
John Bell
Arundel
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