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Miriam Alvarez Marinelli Yesterday I would advise the candidate for governor not to address the issue of property taxes which are primarily a local government responsibility. Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to cover services and programs for their residents, particularly education. As our reading states "Elementary and secondary education, for example, is the most expensive local government service." If the candidate wants the state to "assume some of the costs of local government" that would mean that the state would have to increase state income taxes and increase its sales tax to raise the money the state would have to use to subsidize the programs funded by a local government. This would make the candidate very unpopular. Also, if the locality's current funding needs are not met by the state, this tax reduction could have a negative impact on "the economic value of one's property" and the "the quality of local schools and other public services." According to our text, "property tax is also the most important source of local own-source for funding urban services" so I would strongly advise him/her to not take this route. At the locality where I work, I see first-hand how hard it is for staff to convince Council that a tax rate increase is necessary. Being the politicians that they are, they do not want to antagonize their voters, but at the same time the mayor and Council members are constantly asking staff to provide more and better services to a fast-growing community with the same staff and without additional revenue. Reply