Low-Income Property Taxes

By: Loredana Petriello

The most important cause of education disparity is the fact that school funding comes from property taxes in the area. The concept is simple to understand; if you live in a pretty affluent area, you are likely to have higher property taxes which provide for the funding of your school. The more funding your school receives, the more the students benefit. Your school will be able to offer elective classes, which provide students with sports, arts and music, better teachers, etc. Now let’s say you live in a less affluent area where property taxes are pretty low. This means that your school will receive little funding which can severely affect your experience in school. Lower-income schools have less money to work with, meaning they have to cut a lot out of their budget. This might include some art classes, music classes, theater, high qualified teachers, sports, and elective classes. All of these aspects are what make school fun and interesting. When a school has little funding, it simply does not have the means to support the interest of every student.

People are arguing whether or not property taxes are a just way to fund a school district. Daphne A. Kenyon, an economist at Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, talks about this issue and shares both sides of the argument in her report “The Property Tax-School Funding Dilemma.” Some people think that the way we fund our schools now (with property taxes) is fine because it is very important for strengthening the local government. People who argue for this certainly do not live in low-income areas. On the other side of the argument, most people would agree that property taxes are an unjust way of funding education. “Property taxes fail to adequately finance school budgets and a steady stream of state and federally mandated programs. Poorer cities simply don’t have the tax base to provide adequate schools…” (New York Times). So why is it fair that people who come from lower-income areas to be poorly educated just because of where they live? By funding our schools with property taxes we are making social mobility extremely difficult.

Works Cited

Brady, John. "Retire the Property Tax." Retire the Property

Tax. New York Times, 16 Dec. 2007. Web.

8 Mar. 2011.

Kenyon, Daphne A. "The Property Tax-School Funding Dilemma."

The Property Tax-School Funding Dilemma. Lincoln

Institute, Dec. 2007. Web. 08 Mar. 2011.