Property tax increases average 15 to 20 percent across the state and substantially higher in some cities. John Weston, Duluth city assessor, thinks his city is absorbing all the property tax it can, around 6 percent. He doesn?t think the tax was ever designed to carry such things as welfare, it was meant to take care of a municipality, it has been overused. U of M extension economist Arlee Waldo says for autonomy local governments need their own source of taxed revenue. State law prohibits local sales and income tax. A tax other than property tax would be worse because of variability. The property tax provides a smaller portion of government revenue than it used to. In 1971 it accounted for 47 percent, last year it dropped to 34 percent.Allen Boyce of the Citizen?s League Committee favors a gradual decrease in revenue from property tax to 25 percent. He says the overall level of tax is determined by how much money govenment spends. Every man?s tax break is another man?s tax burden. One problem facing cities is inflation and government method of funding projects.