This is too political for an “All Pinball” thread. All I can say is that some people are bad at math and logic.

Since this is essentially a property tax discussion, here’s my hot take: people are willing to pay higher taxes to live near a city center because their home appreciates much faster than one that’s 30-50 miles away. I live in the Atlanta suburbs, about 30 miles out. If I use Zillow’s numbers, my home has appreciated 27% in the 20 years we’ve lived here - not a great investment. I know of someone who almost doubled their money in less than 10 years, by picking a good in-town location.

If you factor in the shorter commute, better access to good restaurants and entertainment, etc., higher property taxes are in the noise. I.e. the Market has spoken, and in-town homes are more valuable. What’s cool about ‘Merica (and other countries, I assume) is that we can live anywhere we want to.

My property tax is around 1% of my home’s value. When we finished our basement, they didn’t pull permits for the work. Our taxes stayed the same for a few years, then they went up. I asked my friend, whose wife works for the county tax commissioner’s office, how they found out about the basement. He smiled and said, “They drive by and look at how many air conditioners you have.”