STATEMENT BY
Edward M. Flynn
2005 At-Large Candidate
Boston City Council
August 1, 2005
Easing the Property Tax Burden on Boston Homeowners
Today, August 1st, is the due date for the first quarterly real property tax
payment in the City of Boston for FY 2006. As a city homeowner, I
am keenly aware that residential real property taxes
continue to escalate throughout Massachusetts, hitting
the residential owners of Boston especially hard due to
the ever-escalating prices of real estate in our city. This tax
increase is crippling the budgets of our
lower-to-moderate income residents like me and, along
with skyrocketing prices, is keeping people out of the home-buying
market. To provide relief for my fellow Boston homeowners, I am
calling for a scaling of the current residential
valuation exemption based upon years of residency.
The simple message to our residents is: the longer you live here,
the better property tax break you receive.
By way of background, the City of Boston currently offers homeowners a
residential exemption from the assessed valuation of their homes.
For FY 2005 the exemption amount was $113,972.
Thus, the city assesses a resident's real
estate for tax purposes and then subtracts the exemption amount from the
valuation and taxes the remainder. The exemption amount is
recommended annually by the Mayor and approved by the
City Council.
My proposal would seek to keep the overall residential property tax collection
for the city the same, but allow a greater valuation exemption (and
greater tax savings) for our city's
longest serving residents, while technically shifting
an increasing percentage of the property tax burden on the newest residents.
Why does this plan work? Why is it fair? I believe in the following:
The exemption scale would be made to ensure that the city's
overall tax collection would remain unaffected, thus
preserving the requisite funding for our vital city
services.
People should be encouraged to remain residents of our great city, and not
serve as real property speculators who cash in and out of the Boston
housing market. Such transient residency
discourages neighborhood involvement.
The housing boom has served to drive up the home values of many of our city's
long-time residents who have no intention of selling their homes.
Many of Boston's senior
community members live on fixed incomes in homes they purchased
many years ago. While that fixed income does not increase and they
receive no cash benefit from the increased value of
their property, they are still
required to pay higher property taxes.
This plan is one of progressive taxation, since those newer residents of our
city who would receive a reduced valuation are presumably the most able
to pay the property tax since they are able to
participate in the booming house market.
For those who would argue that my plan would deter some from considering
Boston as a place of residence, I counter that this plan should actually
encourage Boston home buying because of the focus on building stable
neighborhoods where people want to live.
If the City continues to insist on requiring non-grandfathered city employees
to live in the city, then it should provide this incentive for residents
to remain in city employment and buy a home.
The City is not required to grant a residential exemption. It is free to
grant it as it wishes. My plan offers benefits
for our residents which they currently do not receive.
It's time for us to "get it
right" in taxing our
residents.
To contact Ed Flynn, feel free to call 617-269-2005 or e-mail Ed at
flynncommittee@verizon.net.
The campaign fax # is 617-269-6005 and the
headquarters address is 416 West Broadway, South Boston.
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