I ventured down into North Richland Hills over the weekend and noticed a number of signs up in support of a tax freeze for seniors and the disabled.  The tagline at the bottom of the sign said that this would “help control runaway spending.”  If it were only that simple.  I don’t see how the tax sucking beast will be so easily starved.  What will actually happen is that the tax rate will increase to the point where the revenue generated is the same as before the freeze.  Since seniors won’t see an increase in their bills, regardless of the tax rate, this would mean that everyone else will pay more.  It is a very rare occurrance for a political entity to actually decrease spending.  And they won’t sit idly by and let their revenues decrease, at least not without a huge voter outcry, which I just don’t see happening at this time.

Actually, as a single, childless taxpayer, I have great sympathy for the people behind the freeze.  The majority of my taxes go to the local school district, which I get nothing out of (unless you count traffic jams).  Here’s what the taxes were on my house from last year:

Tax District	Tax Amount
City of Keller	499.76
Tarrant County	324.55
Tarrant County Hospital Dist	280.36
Tarrant County College Dist	166.00
Keller ISD	1744.92
Total:	$3015.59

I’d like to see the people who actually use the service fund the majority of it.  People without children in the schools should pay a significantly reduced school tax rate.  Of course, I’m a heartless, selfish libertarian type, so what do I know?