The Ring: A Quiet Taking
A Parable by Chris Story
Margaret sat in her modest kitchen and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, as if holding her own shoulders might keep her upright. She let out a slow breath that had been trapped inside her since the letter arrived last week.
Today was the day.
Mayor Mathis was coming at 11:45 a.m.
Her eyes drifted to her left hand. The ring sat proudly on the third finger. Four carats of fire and light, handed down through generations. Her mother had received it from her grandmother, and Margaret always believed she would someday slip it onto her granddaughter Elise’s finger.
But that dream ended with a certified envelope from Borough Hall.
She had fallen behind in her diamond tax.
At first, she laughed when they created the Diamond Assessment Office. A new department, funded with public money, established to count and value every precious stone within the borough limits. Every household was required to report jewelry, heirlooms, even loose gemstones. The value, they said, was necessary to ensure fairness, revenue, and community benefit.
Margaret hardly noticed the early years of the tax. It began small, just a few dollars annually. Then it rose. Then it rose again. After the Ukrainian Revolution sent global diamond prices higher, the borough reassessed her ring and sent a bill she could not pay.
Now the ring that had survived wars, depressions, and a century of family celebrations would be confiscated by the government for failure to pay a tax on something she already owned.
The clock ticked across the quiet kitchen.
11:41.
She wiped down the oak table for the sixth time that morning. Birthday cakes, family dinners, grandchildren’s finger paintings, and her husband’s last breakfast all lived in that wood grain. She brewed a fresh pot of coffee and set two cups out of habit. Being gracious cost nothing.
A car door closed outside. Slow footsteps came up the porch.
There was a knock.
Margaret opened the door to find Mayor Mathis wearing a long wool coat and the kind of smile people use when pretending to be a friend. He stepped inside without waiting to be invited and glanced around the small, tidy kitchen.
“You always keep such a lovely home,” he said gently, his eyes drifting toward the ring. “May we sit?”
They did. He did not touch his coffee.
“As you know,” he began, folding his hands, “you have been behind on your diamond tax for eight months. Due to recent market fluctuations, the assessed value of your ring has increased substantially.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I had hoped for a payment plan. I have medical bills. I live on retirement income. I am doing the best I can.”
He nodded with the polite sadness of a man offering condolences after a funeral.
“The law requires that delinquent diamond taxes be settled. If payment cannot be made, the property must be surrendered as compensation. It is not personal. It is policy.”
Margaret removed the ring. Her hand trembled. A thin pale circle marked where something precious once rested.
Mayor Mathis pulled a velvet pouch from his coat. She placed the ring inside. He tightened the strings.
“There,” he said. “Your debt is satisfied.”
He rose, walked to the door, looked back at her with a soft smile, then left.
Margaret sank into her chair. The house felt larger and emptier than it ever had. A piece of her family was gone, not lost, not misplaced, not stolen. Taken.
Afterward
No one is literally coming for your ring. But make no mistake. You may have to sell your jewelry, drain your savings, or sacrifice family heirlooms just to pay a tax bill on something you already own. And if that is not enough, the government will take your home. This is not hypothetical. It is written into law in every state. Miss your property tax long enough and the very ground you paid for can be seized and sold.
A tax on property is not a tax on wealth. It is a perpetual rent you must pay simply to keep what is already yours. It punishes seniors on fixed incomes, families trying to stay afloat, and anyone whose home value has risen without their consent or participation.
Margaret lost a ring. Real people lose homes.
It is time to end all property taxation before more families lose what they have already earned, already paid for, and already own.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author, Chris Story, and do not represent the views of Story Real Estate, its licensees, agents, or employees.
Unless there is a sales tax, income tax, fuel tax, alcohol tax, hotel tax, tobacco tax, car rental tax, pot/THC tax, short term rental tax, and/or school tax in place to replace all the revenue from property tax, it will remain the devil you know. No State in the union has zero property taxes.
Somebody has to pay for the DEI programs, free homeless tiny homes, free homeless hotel rooms/Red Nose Inns, free homeless meals, free homeless medical care, free cleanup for homeless trashing public property/parks/trails and the Portland Loos.
Amen in Spades!! I understand the need for a cohesive government to maintain community stability, But all of what you list is due to he lack of personal accountability. While it may be well to be compassionate towards the “Down and Out”, that the majority of such is self created and really not the obligation of those who attend to their need without obligating you or me. Cheers, A.M.Johnson-Ketchikan
Ak Fish – Several states are seriously considering abolishing property taxes!
Heck yah. I remember it’s at 11 states.
That’s not what endinging the sales tax he is describing. Like in California it is licked in at the price you paid for your home. Currently here every yr they can continue to increase that’s all he is saying to lock in at that property tax like your interest rate. A lot of people are losing homes because property taxes go off your property assessed value that they deem so at their guess
My condo went from $117 to $188 in 1 yr that’s a bunch of crap. A lot of it is a way the city or borough can just waste more of the money they get like anchorage do you realize how much more Susan LaFrance has put into homelessness business $31 that’s not accounting for all the other things they pay for to homeless business in anchorage.
Have a legit reason and tax within reason. But theirs already 5 more tax initiatives being proposed for April voting. Once they start doing it it gets out of hand like your assessment to the property taxes
Perhaps removing the property tax payment from the convenience of hiding it in the monthly PITI would help people to be more aware of what they are paying for and more conscientious in their voting.
Maybe George Soros or Bill Gates could meet the need, no? After all, they bought Alaska and continues to pour MILLIONS in this state for the election of every Democrat, “citizen” initiative and so-called “independent”.
So this is a made up story of what could happen? I don’t appreciate the deception.
No it happens
Huge scam, just another way our govenment robs us and it can easily be used as a politicall weapon to incentivize people to leave their homes if they stand in the way of a development deal by continuously raising them
The wealthy hate property tax, they believe roads, infrastructure, police, fire etc. should all be free (for them). They are the true freeloaders of society. Turn it over to sales tax as it hits the poor harder as they spend the majority of the income, while the wealthy stick it in the bank, markets, etc. Most communities have a certain amount of property tax exemption for seniors that helps offset the rise in their home value. The MAGA Narrative of being persecuted for needing to pay their fair share. Boo Hoo!
Who exactly are the wealthy? Are you saying the ‘wealthy’ don’t pay taxes? Don’t pay property taxes? Seriously? I think you may have an issue with reality. I suppose ‘wealthy’ means anyone who should be supporting you? As in people who actually work?
AFF believes anyone who doesn’t give him all their ” stuff ” is wealthy and should beput into labor camps to provide him with the luxuries he ” needs”
Alaskans for Slavery to the Central Banks,
Dude, you are seriously deceived. Here is how this program really works. The Bank, ( Fed) creates $ out of things air which is then loaned to a Governmental Organization via a Muncipal Bond apparatus. The Politicians in charge of this scam then pledge your property as collateral for the Bonds.
Trouble is… you the property owner NEVER VOTED FOR THE DRAG QUEEN SKATEPARK , but your house is security for repayment of the bond.
This issue needs to be addressed. We do not have feudal title in America. Property is yourright and shouldn’t be taken from you, unless you pledge it as collateral.
Forget your usual class warfare argument and consider the above.
So, if I own property, and don’t use the roads, schools, police, EMS, etc. any more than I non-property owner, I should pay more to the government for being successful???
Chriss storys is a very good person I listen to him when he comes to talk on Michael dukes show.
Yah we gotta stop the property tax hikes
So how about this… We add up the costs of police, fire, roads, water, sewer, schools, and other city expenses and divide it by the value of properties. Each owner would then pay the amount of the city expenses in proportion to what they own?
Maybe we could have a modest sales tax on non-essentials so people who do not own property also kick in?
And for some things-like docks and harbors we could charge fees based on boat tonnage using the docks or a base fee based upon ship size and dock used?
For the airport we could charge a fee based on the type of plane-per passenger for passenger flights and per pound for cargo?
For roads we could have a fee on cars to help pay. Maybe a tax on gas as well?
For water and sewer we could set a level for base usage that if exceeded you would pay more. Say you use a lot of water in your factory-you pay what you actually use. Or put a lot of poop into the sewer-like a cruise ship-you would pay a fee based on the amount you put into the city sewers.
Congratulations akvoter you just listed all the ways government ALREADY taxes people.
The whole point of the article was to point out how property tax penalizes a specific group of people, holding their property for ransom to extract payment.
I am not against paying taxes, I simply do not think the majority of the burden should by shouldered by only a certain group of people.
The airport is a state entities and they already levy fees. I am not sure if they pay a fee to the city or not . The port is owned by the muni and the state if I remember correctly and they also already levy fees.
The state already has a gas tax and the city levies a $0.10 gas tax on every gallon. Then there is the muni fee when you register your car at the DMV……
I am not sure how AWWU does their fee structure, but I bet they charge more for larger customers.
I am for a city wide sales tax that eliminates property tax. This will also force the city to promote commerce and keep crime and other issues at bay, since when people can’t shop the city coffers lose out.
If you do not want to pay for public safety such as fire and police protection, or have your street plowed, or have your children educated sell your diamonds and move to a rural location that does not hace a property tax because there are no public safety services to protect your property
“………No one is literally coming for your ring………..”
When I first moved into the Mat-Su Borough, there was a personal property tax. Yup. Got snowmobiles in the yard? (Nobody had garages back then). The assessor drove around and looked. Gotta’ pay the tax.
This was before the state paid people to come here and breathe.
Property tax is theft of property value unrealized. Property tax steals your equity regardless if you intend to sell or not. If you don’t pay, you lose your property. Taxes are not benevolent or charitable when it’s coerced and forced upon us by threat of armed force. Those who use the “social contract” argument are probably borough employees or not paying at all. It’s the least equitable way to take our assets. If you want government services so badly, contribute more! It’s easy. The government will accept your gift.
I spent years as a real estate appraiser and a few of those years in tax assessment. I would like to see another means of generating revenue for roads and basic services that are necessary, with the unnecessary being eliminated. Property tax revenue is written in state statute and it makes me mad when someone says ‘oh property taxes in Alaska are low’, or ‘you would pay a lot more if you had to pay out of pocket for road maintenance or schools’. Personally I don’t think we would pay more, nor do I believe our property taxes are low. I write a check twice a year for several thousand dollars, it is indeed a lot of money.
So many people have their property taxes buried in their mortgage payments where they don’t have to think about them much, then they vote in favor of bond packages and other amenities, some completely unnecessary, without giving it a thought. Heck, what’s another $100 per month? I think if people had to actually just pay directly for services, we would get a better deal, and spend less, and get more for our money. People would have to see monthly what they are spending, and what they are getting for that spending. It is amazing what facing reality can do for one’s spending habits.
I am sure the brilliant idea of using private property as a basis for revenue generation had something to do with leveraging people’s assets to make sure they pay, but the flip side is that the cost of what we are paying for has exploded exponentially, along with the public desire for more amenities and services our government never used to provide. Once people are on fixed incomes in retirement, they are very vulnerable to lose what they have worked so hard to pay off. Even with the senior exemption which seems to be getting smaller as costs of government services go up.
But if we did not pay property taxes how could our assembly spent 30 million to purchase the city its own building that they previous leased for almost 40 years at 8 million more that the tax evaluation all while increasing our taxes once it comes off the property rolls? Riddle me that one Batman.
Great column! How a city can take possession of property without repaying the owner the fair market value- over any amount of any owed taxes- is beyond me! Eg.: If the city confiscates a home worth, say, $350,000, over an unpaid tax bill of perhaps $50,000- legally, the city would owe the legal owner $300,000. Any other outcome would be grand theft!
A sales tax be it 30% fed plus a 12% state,city or whatever it takes to run this monster is a better way of taxation, property tax is wrong in every way. There is absolutely no way the tax man can fairly appraise every home. Sales tax is easy to pay and easy to collect. We would rid ourselves of accountants and tax attorneys a double win in itself.
The property taxes might be easier to stomach if they were more equitable. I pay about $4,500. on an assessment of $308,000. The next property over (same size lot) recently sold for about $450,000. and their tax assessment is based on $22,000. – they paid $325 in taxes because the property has not been re- assessed since 2022. There has been a new home built and other structures placed on it since 2022 but the asseseed value and taxes have remained the same for the past 3 years.
You are right about ending property taxes. I’m for that. so, in its place, I’d like to see a corporate tax on all corporations in the State of Alaska. I think it would fix the problem on tax issues.
Not everyone pays property taxes. Not everyone owns a home. Doing away with property taxes and doing a sales tax will be more fair because everyone will be taxed.
Your name is A fallacy.. Evry one pays property taxes, either directly or indirectly. I f you rent, its baked into the rent paymentS. Increase taxes.. Presto!! Rents go up!!
If Joe is paying rent to live somewhere, or operate a business somewhere, then the property owner who collects Joe’s rent is paying the taxes. Part of Joe’s rent is going to the property taxes. Just because Joe doesn’t see the bill himself doesn’t mean he’s not paying…
End the PFD and we can stop talking about taxes for awhile.