When You’ve Paid Long Enough

Evan Swensen
January 7, 2026

Cedar Valley News – January 7, 2026
When You’ve Paid Long Enough
By: Lars Olson
From the fictional town of Cedar Valley, where characters from Quiet Echo continue to respond to real-world events.

Next Monday, Florida lawmakers convene for a sixty-day legislative session with seven property tax proposals on the table—including one that would eliminate non-school property taxes for homeowners entirely.

Meanwhile, in Illinois—a state not known for tax relief—State Senator Neil Anderson has introduced SB 1862, a bill with an elegantly simple premise: if you’ve owned and lived in your home for thirty continuous years, you stop paying property taxes on it.

Thirty years. That’s a generation. That’s a mortgage paid off, children raised, roots grown deep. And at the end of it, under this proposal, you finally own your home free and clear.

“You have to be able to say, ‘Yes, I own this property and they can’t take it away from me,'” Anderson told reporters. “If I lived in Texas or Tennessee where property taxes are super low, I would also introduce this legislation.”

I’ve been turning those words over all week. Because here’s what bothers me about the way we talk about property taxes: we act like they’re just another line item. Just part of owning a home. Part of being a responsible citizen.

But they’re not. They’re rent. Paid to the government. Forever. No matter how long you’ve lived there. No matter how much you’ve already paid.

In Florida, Governor DeSantis has set aside $300 million in his proposed budget to help smaller and rural counties absorb the loss if property taxes are reduced. Four of the seven House proposals have already cleared committee and are heading to Ways and Means. House Joint Resolution 201—the most aggressive—would eliminate all non-school property taxes on homesteaded properties starting January 2027.

The critics warn of service cuts. The Florida League of Cities says the elimination could gut funding for police, fire, and EMS. They ask: where does the money come from?

It’s a fair question. I don’t dismiss it.

But here’s what I notice: the people asking that question never seem to ask the other one. They never ask: where does the money come from for the homeowner? Where does it come from for the widow on a fixed income whose property taxes went up because her neighborhood “improved”? Where does it come from for the seventy-year-old who paid off his house twenty years ago and is still writing checks to the county every year?

The Tax Foundation reports that since 2020, property values have risen nearly 27 percent faster than inflation. In some places—Ohio, Florida, Texas—homeowners saw their bills jump 40, 50, even 60 percent after the pandemic. Not because they earned more. Not because they asked for anything. Just because someone decided their house was worth more on paper.

And now they owe more. Indefinitely.

I run a hardware store. Have for decades. I understand that local services cost money. Roads, schools, fire departments—none of it’s free. I’m not pretending otherwise.

But I also understand this: a system that can take your home from you because you can’t afford the taxes—even after you’ve paid off the mortgage, even after thirty or forty years of faithful payments—that system has lost its way.

Illinois, of all places, seems to understand this. Their bill doesn’t eliminate property taxes for everyone. It doesn’t pretend there are no trade-offs. It simply says: if you’ve been here thirty years, if you’ve proven your commitment to this place, if you’ve contributed for a generation—you’ve paid enough.

There’s wisdom in that. It rewards stability. It honors commitment. It says to young families: if you plant yourself here and stay, there’s a finish line.

Florida is asking bigger questions. Whether to eliminate, phase out, or restructure. Whether to give voters one option or several. Governor DeSantis wants a single proposal; House Speaker Daniel Perez wants to let voters choose from a menu. The debate will unfold over the next sixty days, and whatever passes will need 60 percent approval from voters in November.

The outcome matters—not just for Florida, but for the rest of us. Because if Florida figures this out, other states will follow. Ohio already has a grassroots amendment effort collecting signatures for a full abolition vote this fall. Texas Governor Abbott wants to let voters eliminate school property taxes entirely. The conversation is happening everywhere.

Here in Cedar Valley, we’re a long way from Tallahassee. But we know what it means to work hard, pay your bills, and hope that someday the house you live in will actually be yours.

Maybe it’s time we stopped pretending that’s an unreasonable expectation.

This editorial is part of the fictional Cedar Valley News series. While the people and town are fictional, the national events they reflect on are real.

Want to know the full story behind Cedar Valley? Teresa, Caleb, Dan, and the community you’ve come to know in these editorials first came together in Quiet Echo: When Loud Voices Divide, Quiet Ones Bring Together. Discover how a small town found its way from fear to fellowship—one quiet act of courage at a time. Available on Amazon: https://bit.ly/3ME4nSs

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