■ 25 February 2008 | 7:04 AM
A break for the wealthy
IN 'HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION: let public decide' (letter, Feb. 22), John Moss of the Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance says that special interests are at work to defeat the homestead exemption. That's true; people who rent apartments, homes, business real estate and condos feel they should not have to pay higher taxes so wealthy homeowners can have a tax break.
It really is that simple. After all, we have a constitution to protect the rights of the minority from the power of the majority.
Since 75 percent of Virginians are homeowners, and the exemption would give them a tax break at the expense of renters, is there any doubt how they would vote?
Of course not, and that's why the anti-tax groups want 'the debate' to begin. They know there will be no debate. The exemption will certainly pass, whether it tramples on the rights of the minority or not.
It is disingenuous to call for a referendum, knowing what the result will be. Naked power does not good law make.
Our constitution says all classes of property should be assessed at market value and pay the same tax rate. That represents fairness, equality and justice. No need to change that.
Mike Barrett
Virginia Beach
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Left the building
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I like it!!!!!!!
Educated???
And, some people in this world are educated beyond their intelligence and are so smart they are in fact, stupid!! It was never a hello, and therefore, no good-by is necessary
Ladies and Gentleman...
Mr. Barrett has left the building
Never argue with an idiot
Never argue with an idiot for some may not know who the idiot is. Goodby.
What a joke
Sorry Mike, be it Kapp, Knapp or Ray or Jay, it's you who refuses to look at the facts!! Again, I say again, go look up 500 Main Street in Norfolk and while you are there take the time to review the "many" others that have benefited from the assessment joke. Many hours were spent there last year by the NTP-2 identifying such cases. Tell me Mike, was Knapp's study funded and paid for by a group that paid for the answer they wanted to hear??
Classic response
Oh, that's a classic response for another anti tax zealot. "Don't bother me with the fact, I have already made up my mind." Perhaps you should at least read the article in the Virginia News Letter published by the Weldon Cooper Center fro Public Service. Dr. Knapp is a professor emeritus at UVA who is a senior economist and a expert on state and local government finanace. His article concluded that..."the amendment will exacerbate an already difficult time for local government." But of course, in your post, you butcher the spelling of his name, and show your disdain for objective information and knowledge. So typical of the Moss/Dean taxpayer association approach to problem solving. That is, we know what we want to do, don't bother me with the facts. Ironically, when assessments on business property were rising faster than residential assessments, did the business community whine to the GA to create a business exemption? The answer to that question would be no. But again, the facts matter little to taxpayer associations.
Split Tax Roll
Haaaaaaaa, now that response was sure interesting, but not surprising. Since you reference this Dr. Kapp guy as your example, please allow me to invite your attention to 500 Main Street in Norfolk. That commercial property sold for a tremendous value above the "so called fair market value", but yet the assessment has not changed in over 3 years. This is typical of many commercial properties in this area. Go check it out for yourself. As for me, I'd love to see a split tax roll and I'll gladly take my chances. We both know that this legislation will never happen. Bottom line, we have government by the business, for the business to give the homeowner the "BUSINESS"!!
Bifurcated rate
Actually, that has been proposed in Virginia. However, as far as I know, an amendment to the constitution would be required for this as well. It is called the bifurcated rate; that is, a city would be authorized to charge a different rate for different classes of real property. So there could be a commercial rate and a residential rate. As you would expect, I prefer one uniform rate based on 100% of the fair market value. I acknowledge that in some years, the residential values may go up more than the commercial, and in the next year the opposite will occur. In the long run, the market corrects for both situations. Dr. Knapp's study in VNL showed that since 1994, the commercial rate has gone up faster than the residential rate, but again, that will balance out over time. So for now, with residential assessments in some communities actually going down while commercial assessments are increasing, I can't see where there will be much legitimate concern for a homestead exemption or a bifurcated rate.
Mike Barrett please tell us
Mike, since you are so much against the Homestead Exemption (for obvious reasons) please tell us all how you feel about the "Split Tax Roll" concept. You know, the one that would allow the cities to apply two tax per hundred rates. Say, as a commercial/business your assessment didn't go up or went up very little the city could then leave your tax per hundred stand and if the residential went up a "big Bunch" like it has been doing they could reduce the rate substantially. This would stop one group from actually getting a tax reduction winn-fall while the other group gets tax pounded. This should be interesting, I can't wait!
And yet...
...you still can not tell us where the blight is in VB