The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered Allegheny County to reassess the value of all property in the county.
That decision will cost the county approximately $40 million, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and that's just the beginning.
Not only will taxpayers have to cough up an extra $40 million (a 20-percent property tax increase right off the bat), but once the reassessment is done, many homeowners face the prospect of paying more in property taxes.
This is the legacy of 30 years of failure by the Pennsylvania Legislature to address the state's onerous property tax system. This is the failure of Gov. Ed Rendell to deal with property taxes over the past 6 years year.
The Supreme Court made it clear in the Allegheny County case that it intends to order every county in Pennsylvania to do the same. So if you think your property taxes are high now, wait until your county conducts a reassessment.
Some in the Legislature are attempting to address the issue, but the majority of lawmakers have their heads stuck in the sand over the issue.
2 comments:
The answer is to privatize all the schools. The cost of education will cut in half, the students will get a better education instead of an indoctrination and more importantly, the parents would more than likely become more involved with their children's education. Liberalism starts in the schools and we are now reaping what the schools have taught.
School taxes should be based on the ability to pay - based half on income half on capital gains when you sell (if you lose money, you pay no gains tax). Money is then distributed by the state to the schools - no expensive reassessments, and the number are on pay stubs and tax returns in black and white. No appeals either.
Taxing properties deters people from maintaining their properties. The way it is now, you fix up your house, the tax man rewards you by making you pay more! Put on a new roof - up goes your taxes! Remodel the 100 year old interior and rewire the place - up goes your taxes! ENOUGH!
I know a guy on my street who runs a $125 million company who lives in a $88,000 1200 sq. ft. house with detached garage on a small lot. The guy must make millions. But he still pays as much as the working stiff living next door who might make $40,000/yr.
Property taxes are a holdover from a time when mostly the wealthy owned property and most regular people rented.
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