Finally, we have the perfect example of a dumbass liberal voter who can't figure out that her votes affect her tax bill

Hat tip to Hot Air for this, in which we make the acquaintance of South Austin, Texas, resident Gretchen Gardner, who just became the poster child for stupid:

“I’m at the breaking point,” said Gretchen Gardner, an Austin artist who bought a 1930s bungalow in the Bouldin neighborhood just south of downtown in 1991 and has watched her property tax bill soar to $8,500 this year.
“It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes,” said Gardner, who attended both meetings. “I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.”

It's not because I don't like paying taxes? Really? Then what the hell are you bitching about? You just said you like paying taxes! And you're paying taxes on stuff you voted for. Your appraisal is not the problem, you ignorant sack, it's the tax rate. From what I could gather from the article, the average home in the area appraises at something along the lines of $240,000 for tax purposes -- not that far off from what, for instance, Chez Wolves is appraised at for tax purposes. So why is her tax bill more than three times mine? It ain't the appraisal, people.

As Hot Air notes, the Texas Public Policy Foundation has suggested a solution to this problem that would take the burden off homeowners and spread it more equally:

New research suggests that if Texas eliminates its local property tax system, ranked as the 14th most oppressive in the nation, and instead replaces those lost revenues with an adjusted sales tax, then the ensuing flood of capital investment and business activity could ignite the Texas economy for years to come.

Of course, not voting for "every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better," might help, too. It might be worth a couple seconds' thought to decide whether this or that is something you actually want to pay for. Because if you vote for it, I think you pretty much give up the right to bitch about paying for it. Don't like it? Refer to the title of the blog.