LETTER: Democrats, property taxes, landlords and housing

While I agree with Duane Laible’s Saturday letter regarding Democrats wanting to raise property taxes, he did not bring up the law regarding the 8 percent annual cap for people who rent their property. Even in the COVID years, when landlords could not evict non-paying tenants, the property taxes still went up the full 8 percent every year even if landlords were getting no rent.

We know that Democrats love to punish business owners, and this is one of the big reasons for higher rents. When landlords cannot get rid of non-paying tenants and still have a much higher tax liability, they have no choice but to raise the rents when there is a vacancy.

Now, Democrats are pushing for rent control and making it even tougher on landlords to evict non-paying tenants. You think rents are high now? Wait until there is rent control. Just look to California and how unaffordable housing has become.