I would like to respond to a Nov. 2 Gazette article (“Rollback up again for homeowners”):

For more than 30 years, owners of residential property in Iowa have been getting a significantly better deal than the owners of commercial and industrial property when it comes to property taxes.

Business does not really pay property taxes or franchise fees because they are in a position to pass them on to the consumer and they do just that. That’s why they’re assessed at 100 percent. The government considers this a hidden tax because the consumer isn’t smart enough to realize this.

As for the “rollback.” it’s meant to favor the larger homes. They pay a larger tax than the smaller, but the portion they don’t pay is also larger.

If it were meant to be fair, all would be taxed at 100 percent.

Taxes are levied to pay the cost of government and to provide for the common defense, not to subsidize businesses.

In closing, I would like to mention that we were always told that the press was the watchdog of democracy, not just the PR branch.

Walter Kraus

Cedar Rapids