We should all be concerned about the negative effect of a 20 percent property tax increase on the rents charged in Fountain Hills.

There is a lot of vacant commercial real estate in town that will be even more difficult to get rented and keep rented if the property tax increases.

Don’t forget that people who rent homes, apartments, condos and even seniors in assisted living facilities will also see their rent increase. If you rent a home or condo, you will likely be paying all of the tax increase on that property. Landlords are in the rental business and businesses don’t pay taxes, their customers pay taxes.

Another problem will be when the school district tries to pass a bond issue for something after the town takes 20 percent more of the overtaxed taxpayers’ property tax money. I suspect it will be much harder to pass another school bond and probably the same with town bonds. We should be trying to improve the business climate, not just trying to grab more taxpayer money to spend.

It would be good to get a handle on the vacant commercial real estate around town because if enough businesses leave, the residents will shop over the hill in Scottsdale as they are driving through on their normal daily activity. Just vote no. This tax is a bad idea on so many levels.