An Open Query to Deval Patrick
from Barbara Anderson
Dear Deval:
My quarterly property tax of $864 is due on
November 1. My total annual property tax on my five room house is
$3,456.
If you become governor, what will my property tax
be next year at this time?
You say you do not support the voter-mandated
income tax rollback because you want to "cut the property tax"
instead. Please tell us how you are going to do this. We haven’t
heard, and cannot find on your website, any specific plan.
As the organization that created Proposition 2½,
we are second to none in our concern about property taxes. Though
Prop 2½ limits their annual growth to 2½ percent a year, we agree
that they are still too high. Do you plan to lower the annual
increase to 2 percent? Or to discourage overrides by cutting local
aid if property taxes increase?
I’ve been using my share of the voter-mandated
income tax cut to pay my property tax increases. If the income tax
rate is cut to 5%, as the voters ordered, I will apply my share of
that – $111.00 – to my property tax bill.
If the rate is not cut to 5%, despite the voter
mandate, if you are elected will your plan cut my property tax by
$111.00 next year?
We did find a plan on your website to expand
education efforts so that elderly homeowners know about existing
property tax relief that is available to them. This is based on an
assumption that they haven’t yet figured this out or that their
community doesn’t already tell them?
You also mention wanting to expand "the circuit
breaker property tax credit." In fact, the "circuit breaker" is not
a property tax credit, it is an income tax credit. And it is, as we
said when it passed, very difficult to understand. But if you don’t
know even know what tax it cuts, how are you going to "educate"
seniors about it?
You suggest a "rational revenue structure,
sensible tax policy and fair distribution of state resources to
cities and towns -- so that property taxes can be lowered and kept
low."
Please tell us exactly how this would work. By
how much will our taxes be lowered?
All we can find that is specific is your plan for
"New Revenue" (i.e., new taxes). You want "to raise additional
revenue from such sources as a reasonable local meals tax."
So let’s make sure we understand. The seniors,
who are going to be "educated" about existing tax abatements, and
who await your actual plan to actually cut their property taxes,
will have to pay more taxes when they meet their friends for
breakfast at the local coffee shop.
All things considered, we think it best if you
just respect and honor the voters and rollback the income tax rate
to 5 percent. In return, we can promise to apply that tax relief to
our property tax bill or rent.
Sincerely,
Barbara Anderson
Cc. Massachusetts media
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