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North Dakota voters will decide this fall whether to eliminate property taxes in what would be a first for a state and a major change that officials initially estimate would require more than $1 billion every year in replacement revenue.
Secretary of State Michael Howe’s office said Friday that backers submitted more than enough signatures to qualify the constitutional initiative for the November general election. Voters rejected a similar measure in 2012.
Property taxes are the base funding for numerous local government services, including sewers, water, roads, jails, deputies, school building construction and teacher salaries — “pretty much the most basic of government,” said North Dakota Association of Counties Executive Director Aaron Birst.
User fees are so variable. We have a commuter rail system that is financially destitute because it was user-fee based and then #covid. Now it’s in mortal disrepair - I know what I said - and trying to reduce services but keep prices high - shrinkflation - to remain financially viable.
Rail competes with flights and driving for business. People are choosing not to take trains because it’s worse than flying or driving. If you build it to the point where it’s better than flying or driving, people will use it. Americans have no aversion to trains, they have aversions to bad service. See the Brightline projects and the Acela Express. High-speed, high-quality rail can work and be profitable in America.
Road tolls in Texas compete with being unemployed. People have no choice but to drive and pay because of Texas’s horrendous urban design.