My property value went up 50%, and my taxes...went down???

Like most homeowners in the Valley of the Sun, the value of my home has increased significantly in the past few years. And yet when I got my property tax bill this year, my taxes actually went down. Yet there are some folks out there right now trying to scare folks into believing that their property taxes are going to go through the roof because of the appreciation the past few years in the real estate market. As a result, they are trying to put an initiative on the ballot that they claim will lower your property taxes, but it may just bankrupt your local schools. Now what would that do to your property values?

So why not be concerned about property taxes? First, the real estate market here slowed down more than a year ago and is still going down, so if you haven't noticed an increase in your property taxes yet due to increased valuation, you probably won't. Secondly, the main reason your property taxes don't automatically go up when your property value does in Arizona is because we already have strict laws to keep your property taxes low. Any of you who have owned a home in virtually any other state know how low our property taxes are. For starters, the state of Arizona does not even levy a property tax. Then, the state actually pays a portion of your local school district property tax for you. And local taxing authorities, be they schools, cities, or counties, have a legal limit that their revenue can rise in any given year. Anything beyond that limit requires a public vote of your school board, city council, etc. And while I don't imagine many of my readers are seniors on fixed income, in the odd chance that you are, you can have your property value frozen through your county assessor.

So if someone asks you to sign a petition to reduce property taxes, don't sign!

Border Communities Show You Can Help the Economy and the Environment

Too often, folks on the right tell us that helping the environment will somehow hurt our economy or our corporate bottom line. Kudos to Nogales and neighboring Rio Rico for creatively cleaning up the air, the sewer line, and saving money for the taxpayers. When they realized that sewers in Nogales, Mexico, were filled with used cooking oil, which can block sewer lines just as it can block your arteries, and that these sewers flowed downhill onto the Arizona side, they had a simple yet ingenious thought: BIODIESEL! Rather than clogging the sewers of Arizona and Sonora, the cooking oil will now be used to fuel school buses and fire trucks, while cleaning up the local air (as biodiesel has lower particulate emissions) and reducing dependence on foreign oil ever so slightly. If anyone reliable (i.e. not VW) ever makes a diesel passenger car again, I may have to try biodiesel. And unlike ethanol, biodiesel can be made from used food products, rather than competing for our food supply and driving up food costs.

If They're So Poor, Why Are They So Fat? Ask Detroit.

It's hard to have a conversation in America today about hunger, especially since it seems to contradict all we hear in the news about America's obesity epidemic. Yes, more Americans are becoming obese, and many of those Americans are low income - the same population served by Food Stamps. But many of these people, such as in Detroit, lack access to healthy foods, such as fresh produce. In fact, although Detroit is one of our nation's largest cities, the last large chain supermarket has just pulled out of the city. News has now come that a local independent grocer will give those closing stores a try, but far too many residents are left to find expensive, highly processes, not very nutritious food at neighborhood convenience stores. Meanwhile, Congress is considering a reauthorization of Food Stamps (believe it or not, such programs do have to be reauthorized by Congress every few years, or they will cease to exist). Several Members of Congress and the Governor of Oregon took a "Food Stamp Challenge" to see if they could live for a week on the average benefit of just $1 per meal. I am hoping that Congress will see fit to raise the benefit just a bit, especially since food prices have been rapidly increasing thanks to more food being turned into ethanol.

Right-Wing Christian Activists Disrupt Senate

For the first time ever, a Hindu was invited to give the opening prayer in the United States Senate. This did not please several Christian activists, who decided to disrupt the prayer.

McCain Hypocracy?

This was on my other blog. It's old, but since a friend of mine just told me how much she liked it, I thought I'd repost. For the record, I've criticized Senator John McCain a bit in recent months, but I'll likely stop. After all, nobody likes beating a dead horse.

McCain hypocracy?
I still need someone to explain to me why Congress forcing President Clinton to withdraw U.S. troops from Somalia was within Congress's power and the right thing to do, yet Congress forcing President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq is dangerous and infringes upon the President's power. Maybe my Senator can explain this one to me. From the Center for American Progress:

JOHN MCCAIN ARGUED FOR WITHDRAWAL: In Oct. 1994, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called on President Clinton to withdraw forces from Haiti "as soon as possible." "In my view that does not mean as soon as order is restored to Haiti," he said. "It does not mean as soon as democracy is flourishing in Haiti. It does not mean as soon as we have established a viable nation in Haiti. As soon as possible means as soon we can get out of Haiti without losing any American lives." A year before, in Oct. 1993, McCain argued against giving any strategy the chance to succeed in Somalia. "Mr. President, can anyone seriously argue that another 6 months of United States forces in harm's way means the difference between peace and prosperity in Somalia and war and starvation there? Is that very dim prospect worth one more American life? No, it is not," he said. (Watch the video of his statements here.) A McCain spokesman said, "It's intellectually dishonest to compare the situations in Haiti and Somalia to the current situation in Iraq." The only intellectual dishonesty comes from McCain's willingness to contort his views to defend Bush's failed Iraq policy.

So it's come to this...a blog

So I've finally joined the world of the blogosphere. Yes, I've written blogs on other social networking sites before, but usually I am complaining about various aches and pains, or extolling the virtues of low carb vanilla ice cream and Diet A&W.

This site is nothing more than Matt's Mad Musings about politics, society, changing the world, or just observing the humor that daily life and current events bring us. Although many of you know me to be a "policy wonk" (aka a political nerd), I am aiming this blog at those who have opinions and care about the direction of our communities, our country, and our fellow humans, but have never been too involved in any great movements. I don't expect you to be motivated to major political action. And I hope to have some good back and forth with people who are just normal folks living their lives - and who care.

This blog has been motivated by my Thursday night coffees with my old college friends. If you ever wanted a political focus group, they are it. They are pretty much all female (hence the name "Girl's Night"...and me), opinionated, yet non-partisan. They are just trying to make the best life they can. Also, in the course of my day job and various political and community activities, I come across tidbits of knowledge that I love to share. Now we'll find out if anybody else cares to listen, or if I just put you all to sleep.