Urban Tax Games

Mayor Eddie Perez of Hartford, CT has an innovative plan to deal with the beleaguered city's impending tax disaster:

Under Perez's plan, the amount of tax depends on who owns it. If the owner lives in the house and makes $90,000 year, the tax is capped at $3,600. If the owner-occupant makes $50,000, the cap is $2,000. But if the property is owned by a landlord who lives elsewhere, the city estimates a tax bill of more than $9,500.

The plan does offer an incentive to business: elimination of the 15 percent surcharge on commercial property taxes, which has been used until now to keep residential taxes down.

"This plan deals with two critical issues facing the city," Perez's chief of staff, Matt Hennessy, said. "It provides an incentive for homeownership in the city with the lowest homeownership rate in the state of Connecticut and one of the lowest in the country. And it provides an incentive for businesses of all sizes to reinvest in our city.

Hint to Mayor Perez: Nobody decent wants to be an owner-occupant in Hartford anymore because of the crime. It all begins and ends with crime and public safety. Good people won't raise their kids around junkies and gangsters. Sorry. Not even if you say 'pretty-please with sugar on top.'

Its hard to feel the pride of home ownership if you're afraid to leave the house.

posted by Laura. at 12:11 PM

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