Letter: No tax relief in sight

Graphic by Lori Deaton

[Board of Commissioners Chairman] Brownie Newman says that if we give tax relief to businesses that have suffered from the pandemic, we would have to raise taxes on everyone else in order to maintain county services.

Too bad he didn’t think of that before he voted to give Pratt & Whitney $27 million in tax incentives. I guess I can’t count on a lower tax rate for my greatly increased property appraisal.

— Ken Jones
Swannanoa

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3 thoughts on “Letter: No tax relief in sight

  1. Mike R.

    Citizens should push back hard against anything other than a “revenue neutral” tax rate change.

  2. North Asheville

    Citizens should push back against increasingly rising property values, which raise taxes on longtime property owners who did not realize any value from their increased property values. Limit rise in house value to inflation, and raise rate only to “market value” when houses changes hands.
    Time for Proposition 13 for North Carolina (or at least Asheville/Buncombe)

    Understanding Proposition 13

    There is a new generation of homeowners who do not understand Proposition 13 (Prop. 13) and how it affects their property taxes. Every homeowner in California, whether they purchased their home yesterday or in 1978, is protected under Prop. 13. Prior to Prop. 13’s passage, homeowners were at the mercy of real-estate market values. A county assessor would have to base property tax rates on fluctuations in the real estate market. Now, every homeowner has their property tax rate set at 1 percent of the initial market value, and any annual increase will be capped at 2 percent. The longer someone stays in their home, the lower their “effective” tax rate will be in comparison to its market value.

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