When it comes to tax relief, I always remember my friend Howard’s words. “What a tangled web we weave,” he’d say, “when first we practice to relieve.”

He may not have been the first to modify the old saying, but he nailed it. When people talk about tax relief, most of the time they’re pushing a tax shift. And the process of moving tax burdens from one group to another weaves a terribly tangled web of privilege, power and punishment.

Property taxes always attract considerable attention and disdain, particularly when housing values skyrocket. As a property increases in value, tax bills rise correspondingly. To realize the financial rewards of a more valuable house, the owner has to sell it or borrow against it – unattractive options. Property taxes are paid in big lumps, unlike the nickel-and-diming sales tax. And the campaigns for higher levies come at you like weight-loss commercials on cable television. You get tired of saying no and you don’t always see the value in – or have the money to afford – a yes vote.

So we just get mad.

This probably won’t make anyone happy (less angry, perhaps), but property taxes are one of those things Washington state has generally gotten right. The system may seem complicated – in part that’s a consequence of having some 1,700 units of government – from the state to the local mosquito district – coming at us for taxes. But the basic principles are simple.

Our state constitution has two critical protections for property owners. All property must be taxed uniformly. We don’t have separate rules for various classes of property. Some states tax residential, commercial, industrial and other types of property differently, creating perverse tax shifts with myriad, usually negative, consequences for economic growth. Our other constitutional protection is the “1 percent” limit: property taxes cannot exceed 1 percent of value without voter approval.

An additional limit, passed as Initiative 747 in 2001, capped property tax increases for state and local government to an aggregate of 1 percent. A King County judge said the measure was unconstitutional and the Supreme Court has yet to reverse her, though it should shortly.

Knowing that voters dislike the tax, politicians continue to tinker. Consider the 50 or so property tax bills introduced this year in the Legislature. All but a handful would have granted targeted relief to selected groups of taxpayers.

Notably, none (other than unsuccessful efforts to reinstate I-747) would have stemmed the flow of money to state and local governments. They simply rearranged the burden. Similarly, a liberal Seattle-based think tank proposes a property tax credit that kicks in when taxes reach a given level of household income. Backers consider it a creative way to funnel targeted tax relief without reducing funding for government programs. The tax cut would be made up in higher taxes on those not receiving the credit.

That’s how it works. Creative taxation always means higher taxes and larger government. The tax shifters want to make it easier to get voter approval for local taxes. They figure that if they can cut the costs for some folks by shifting the burden to others, the off-loaders will more gladly support increased spending. It’s possibly good politics, but it’s lousy public policy. And it entails the risk of driving investment and job creation out of the high-tax jurisdictions to lower-cost competitors, who often offer equally good (or better) public services. Uniformity requires all taxpayers to pay their fair share – no more and no less.

Besides, the limits already in place are working. According to recent reports from the Census Bureau and the nonprofit Tax Foundation, Washingtonians paid property taxes of $1,005 per capita in 2005, ranking us 24th nationally among the 50 states. The national average was $1,132. From 2000 to 2005, our per capita property tax burden is virtually unchanged (in fact, it dropped 0.2 percent) despite rapid appreciation in housing values. Nationally, the burden grew 12.5 percent, with 43 states experiencing faster growth than Washington.

Our current constitutional protections, combined with a cap like I-747, remain the best tools to preserve a fair property tax system. There’s no reason to get caught in the webs spun by the tax shifters.