Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
prohousingpgh.org
Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
1–10 of 30 posts
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#2Unexpected to see this talked about on HN.
I actually went through the Allegheny county “newcomer tax” just some months ago.
It was a bit of a strange process to appeal (I lost; my house is very weird for the area).
While I do see the benefit for not raising taxes so consistently for long-term owners (and could definitely see gentrification-esque effects) it does seem like a pretty obvious - if bitter - pill to swallow if the area is going to have any chance of continued growth.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#3Why don't they go back to their riff on land value tax? Property taxes are regressive and stifle growth, development, and improvements.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#4Unexpected to see this talked about on HN. I actually went through the Allegheny county “newcomer tax” just some months ago. It was a bit of a strange process to appeal (I lost; my house is very weird for the area). While I do see the benefit for not raising taxes so consistently for long-term owners (and could definitely see gentrification-esque effects) it does seem like a pretty obvious - if bitter - pill to swall…
If the only way to have growth is to kick out the existing inhabitants, one wonders what the purpose of “growth” is.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#5Why don't they go back to their riff on land value tax? Property taxes are regressive and stifle growth, development, and improvements.
Property taxes are the only thing that can redistribute wealth from landlords to the working people.
Your company definitely bought / financed it, so it is clear evidence of your financial means at the purchase time.
Businesses that own land don't pay federal taxes, they can just declare 0 profit every year while paying for range rovers for the owners.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#6Why don't they go back to their riff on land value tax? Property taxes are regressive and stifle growth, development, and improvements.
Agreed as does the org putting out the linked paper https://www.prohousingpgh.org/blog/policy-land-value-taxes
And if you read the linked paper, particularly the section "Effects of Reassessments on Split-Rate Taxing Bodies" (split rate being the riff you're referring to), making land value assessments more accurate of course makes land value taxation more appealing.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#7Unexpected to see this talked about on HN. I actually went through the Allegheny county “newcomer tax” just some months ago. It was a bit of a strange process to appeal (I lost; my house is very weird for the area). While I do see the benefit for not raising taxes so consistently for long-term owners (and could definitely see gentrification-esque effects) it does seem like a pretty obvious - if bitter - pill to swall…
Continued growth to what end...?
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#8Why don't they go back to their riff on land value tax? Property taxes are regressive and stifle growth, development, and improvements.
Property taxes are the only thing that can redistribute wealth from landlords to the working people. Your company definitely bought / financed it, so it is clear evidence of your financial means at the purchase time. Businesses that own land don't pay federal taxes, they can just declare 0 profit every year while paying for range rovers for the owners.
Property taxes have a component that redistributes wealth from landlords to the working people, but it also has a component that penalizes making better use of the land. The former is usually called "land value tax" and the latter is the part of the tax that is proportional to the improved value of the land. The latter part incentivizes some uncertain amount more towards mcmansions and away from multi-unit buildings.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#9Why don't they go back to their riff on land value tax? Property taxes are regressive and stifle growth, development, and improvements.
Property taxes are the only thing that can redistribute wealth from landlords to the working people. Your company definitely bought / financed it, so it is clear evidence of your financial means at the purchase time. Businesses that own land don't pay federal taxes, they can just declare 0 profit every year while paying for range rovers for the owners.
> Property taxes are the only thing that can redistribute wealth from landlords to the working people.
Eh? Working people always pay the property tax, landlords do not.
Re: Modernizing Property Tax Assessments in Allegheny County
#10Unexpected to see this talked about on HN. I actually went through the Allegheny county “newcomer tax” just some months ago. It was a bit of a strange process to appeal (I lost; my house is very weird for the area). While I do see the benefit for not raising taxes so consistently for long-term owners (and could definitely see gentrification-esque effects) it does seem like a pretty obvious - if bitter - pill to swall…
Continued growth to what end...?
Jobs and new families?
I’ve become intimately familiar with Youngstown, OH - about 70 miles away from the Pittsburgh - and it’s a great case study of how far a once-powerhouse city can fall if it doesn’t a actively reinvent itself.