We have a real estate tax problem on Long Island. This is widely understood.
In reality, however, it’s a school tax problem. This as school taxes are 71 percent of total real estate taxes for the average Nassau County home-owner.
In short, our problem of high real estate taxes is primarily a problem of high school taxes.
Hence, the tax problem on L.I. can’t be successfully resolved without addressing school taxes.
If we don’t reduce school taxes, we can’t solve our tax problem. This is clear from the numbers.
It’s equally clear from the numbers that school taxes are high because of the exorbitant cost per student in the taxpayer-funded public school system. And the costs are exorbitant because the public school system is a monopoly.
As with most monopolies, it’s unnecessarily expensive. Shockingly so.
This can be seen by comparing public school costs verses parochial school costs for students in the East Williston School District area.
In this regard, the per student cost in the EWSD is approximately $35,000.
This while local Catholic schools are educating students for approximately 20 percent of that amount.
Specifically, an East Williston resident who attends the local Catholic schools, i.e., St. Aidan’ grammar school (Tuition — $5,060 annually) and Chaminade High School (Tuition —$11,255 annually), will be educated at an average annual cost of $7,166.
Conversely, an East Williston resident attending the EWSD costs taxpayers an average of $35,000 annually.
Given this huge cost disparity between public and private school education for similarly situated students, the solution to our high real estate taxes on Long Island is readily apparent. It’s school choice. Competition.
This via the use of vouchers, tax credit scholarships and/or educational savings accounts.
The idea is to introduce school choice into the monopoly system.
Give parents the option of sending their kids to the public schools or elsewhere, while assisting financially with the choice, via vouchers, tax credit scholarships and/or educational savings accounts. This will lower costs and improve school quality, benefitting school kids, parents, taxpayers, Long Island and our country.
These solutions were previously suggested in a June 24 letter to the editor in this paper.
This in response to an editorial supporting an increase in state aid to public schools.
The letter writer, Ms. Pandelakis, instead argued for “vouchers, tax credit scholarships or educational savings accounts.”
Ms. Pandelakis also wrote: “Parental choice can raise the level of education for all children because it fosters competition between private, parochial and public schools.”
This as an alternative to increasing state aid. Ms. Pandelakis is right.
As school taxes are 71 percent of real estate taxes for the average homeowner, every dollar reduction in school costs resulting from such competition will mean a 71 cent reduction in real estate taxes in Nassau County.
Given the huge disparity between public and parochial school costs as seen above, large costs savings are achievable.
In fact, such competition has the potential of significantly reducing the property tax burden.
For example, a 50 percent reduction in school costs (to $17,500 per capita/student in East Williston), which would be easily achievable in a fully competitive environment, would reduce a 20,000 real estate tax bill by $7,100, bringing total taxes down to $12,900. This a 35 percent overall reduction in property taxes.
Such reductions would go a long way to keeping families and young people on Long Island, stopping the slow population bleed high real estate taxes are now causing.
It will also make for better schools, a side effect of competition.
This instead of pouring even more money into the bloated public school system.
While the solution to our tax problem is readily apparent, its implementation will require political courage, a quality all but non-existent in our politicians.
But unless real competition is introduced into our taxpayer funded educational system, our tax problem won’t be resolved.
Instead, the slow population bleed from Long Island will likely continue, impacting quality of life and home values.
Introducing competition into the educational system is no more than common sense. It should have been done long ago.
It hasn’t because politics are involved.
When politics are involved common sense takes a back (or no) seat. That’s what’s happened on this issue, as on so many others.
As an aside, school choice is another reason to vote for Trump.
He’s an advocate.
John O’Kelly
East Williston