I can agree with a lot of that, but part of what I don't like is when I pay for luxury things I can't use. For example, if the city decides to subsidize a stadium, but I can't afford tickets to any events, how do I benefit from paying for part of that via property taxes?
Or another example would be post-secondary education. Where I live it's partially subsidized, so my taxes go towards it even if I can't afford to attend. Sure, there's an overall benefit to having an educated population, but I'm being forced to subsidize other peoples' educations and they benefit directly in the form of increased earning potential which translates into a better standard of living.
I don't have kids and I don't have a problem paying taxes for fully subsidized K-12 education where everyone gets access no matter what.
> For example, if the city decides to subsidize a stadium, but I can't afford tickets to any events, how do I benefit from paying for part of that via property taxes?
I suspect the economic benefits for this kind of thing may not actually hold up, but the argument there would be that you benefit from the new stadium because it creates jobs and attracts spending in your city, which results in a bunch of benefits that you do get to appreciate (new restaurants, more tax revenue, more job opportunities etc) even if you never attend an event at the stadium.
Or another example would be post-secondary education. Where I live it's partially subsidized, so my taxes go towards it even if I can't afford to attend. Sure, there's an overall benefit to having an educated population, but I'm being forced to subsidize other peoples' educations and they benefit directly in the form of increased earning potential which translates into a better standard of living.
I don't have kids and I don't have a problem paying taxes for fully subsidized K-12 education where everyone gets access no matter what.