Ah ... it is again that time. No, not the feel of the crisp fall weather or the beautiful colors of fall. It is time again for another round of back-door tax increases under the guise of "fair assessments" ("County Tax System in Court Today," Oct. 19; "State May Take Up Assessment in 2011," Oct. 30), brought to you by the usually subjective state Supreme Court (it included only Allegheny County, even though other counties use the same system); the always willing Judge R. Stanton Wettick, who has made a virtual life's work of this; the Legislature -- you know, that overpaid, underworked body that broke the law by not passing a budget when required -- which cannot even muster the time to pass a moratorium on assessments (because it might have to find an alternative within 30 or so years); and Ira Weiss, that savior of all the overtaxed.
Too bad they all -- along with the usual do-gooders who constantly editorialize in this paper about the need for "accurate" and "yearly" (God forbid) assessments -- do not fully explain why most of us always pay more taxes after an assessment. Why? Because no one attempts to hold school boards or municipalities accountable to make sure millage rates are changed to reflect the (always) total area assessment increase. When did you ever see before and after rates published for public scrutiny and review? My, these boards and boroughs are all smiling now: more revenue coming that they do not have to justify -- party!
But, all is not lost. I just opened the mail and in it is a check for $75 for my 2009 property tax rebate, compliments of the Fast Eddie Rendell/Bloated State Legislature Society for the Creation of Meaningful Property Tax Relief created in 2002. Now my dog can eat for a month.
BILL MARO
Jefferson Hills
Posted
Nov 05 2009, 09:52 AM
by
Susan Mannella