You may have heard—and if you haven’t, you may be living under the moon—but it’s an election year. We’re at the point in the season where I’ll be time-shifting my TV to fast-forward through commercials from candidates who lie and/or exaggerate about themselves and their opponents.

One issue that we will all hear again and again during the election campaign, no matter where we live, is taxes. Taxes are too high. What are our taxes being used for? Taxes, taxes, taxes.

Here in North Dakota, we will be voting on a measure to eliminate property taxes. Completely. Gone. No more property taxes.

That may sound good on the surface, but as someone who lives in a very rural area, it scares me. Our community is already struggling because little of the property tax is used for local purposes; graveling streets or taking steps to keep them afloat – literally – is sometimes already out of the budget. Our local school board is strapped for cash because there are no other options – there isn’t much money to go around already. How do you think a community with a handful of families or a school with a small population will fare when it has to beg the state government for money alongside political subdivisions with many more residents? I’m not optimistic.

While no one likes paying property taxes or any other taxes, I need to hear a plan for what happens if we eliminate or even significantly reduce a particular tax. How will things change for the better for everyone?

If you’re reading this column, you’re probably a farmer or rancher, or are involved with a farm, ranch or agribusiness in one way or another. Where do you think crop insurance and social security subsidies come from? What provided you with the big emergency checks during the trade war or during COVID that kept your farm or ranch afloat? Taxes.

Nationally, we have a huge debt problem because nobody likes taxes, but nobody wants to cut the things they’d like to see funded. That’s a problem. Compromise has gone by the wayside, as has the idea that sometimes you have to tighten your belt. And don’t come at me with “That’s because the Democrats…” or “That’s because the Republicans…” because everyone is guilty in some way.

This includes voters and any of us who have cashed a check from the government while complaining about taxes.

Nobody likes paying taxes. But I don’t think we want to give up affordable crop insurance. I don’t think we want to pay out of pocket when we need a fire truck. I don’t think we want to watch our rural roads get even worse.

Unless there is a plan for what will happen without the revenue from a particular tax – and that plan had better not be “cut everything that doesn’t affect me personally, but don’t cut the things I care about” – please remember that you can’t speak with a forked tongue. You can’t demand better crop insurance and at the same time demand a reduction in your own income taxes. You can’t want better roads but not want to pay property taxes.

We need to find a better way. But simply cutting revenue without a plan – a real, workable plan, not the wishful thinking of some person or party – will only cause more problems in the future.

We all need to be more mindful of what our taxes are being spent on, especially if we think they should be cut. Perhaps some of them can or should be cut. But the problem requires serious people with serious solutions, willing to make tough decisions that serve the common good rather than just advocating for a reduction in their own tax burden.

This election season, I look forward to watching every commercial that talks about tax cuts without providing a solid plan for the future.

Jenny Schlecht is Agweek’s agricultural content director and editor of Agweek, Sugarbeet Grower and BeanGrower. She lives on a farm and ranch near Medina, North Dakota, with her husband and two daughters. Reach her at [email protected] or 701-595-0425.