Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Goddamn Politicians
Check out this story on what is going on with the Citywide reassement.
For those who don't know, the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT) announced in 2002 that it would undertake a project of reassessing, for tax purposes, every residential property in Philadelphia. City Council would then eliminate a complicated system of partial assessments and tax every property at market rate. The planned shift will be revenue nuetral, but many residents will see their property taxes jump. Others will see them fall. The trouble is that most residents who will see a jump in their taxes are those who own expensive properties as these properties tend to be under assessed by the current system. Most people who own expensive property also wield a decent amount of political power and have been pushing Council to delay or eliminate the tax reform.
So, as the story suggests, Council has once again sold out Philadelphia's poor in favor of contributions from the rich. (with sarcasm) w00t :-/
For those who don't know, the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT) announced in 2002 that it would undertake a project of reassessing, for tax purposes, every residential property in Philadelphia. City Council would then eliminate a complicated system of partial assessments and tax every property at market rate. The planned shift will be revenue nuetral, but many residents will see their property taxes jump. Others will see them fall. The trouble is that most residents who will see a jump in their taxes are those who own expensive properties as these properties tend to be under assessed by the current system. Most people who own expensive property also wield a decent amount of political power and have been pushing Council to delay or eliminate the tax reform.
So, as the story suggests, Council has once again sold out Philadelphia's poor in favor of contributions from the rich. (with sarcasm) w00t :-/
# posted by PhillyChimp @ 8:00 AM 
