Property Tax Cap Draws Flak from Cash-Hungry Cities
One of the most dangerous pieces of tax legislation in this year’s legislative session continues to make its way toward passage. As we have described here on many occasions, Rep. Edward Lindsey’s (R-Atlanta) proposal to cap property tax assessments is mathematically flawed, completely unnecessary and will only serve to “constitutionalize” additional unfairness in the state’s property tax code.
Lindsey is correct about one probable consequence of his law, although he counts higher taxes as a benefit:
Lindsey said his proposal would force local city councils, school boards and county commissions to “look voters in the eye” and raise millage rates if they want more money.
Whether they “look voters in the eye” or not, it is true that an assessment cap will force cities and counties to increase the millage rate, completely erasing any limit on increases in individual tax bills that Lindsey’s cap may have produced.
Rep. Lindsey is absolutely wrong. Making his error even more egregious is the fact that there is a simpler, more effective and less harmful way to accomplish the same purpose—a mathematically-computed millage rate.
Property tax cap draws flak from cash-hungry cities | ajc.com
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