From this morning's News and Record:
“What I can say to you with confidence is that between 2004 and now, values are down in Guilford County and across the country,” [Don] Jud said. “I’m rather suspicious of something that would say that there’s been an appreciation and it’s been more rapid in more expensive homes than in less expensive homes.”
The reassessments were really just a massive tax increase by the County. Instead of forcing the Commissioners to take a politically costly vote to raise the tax rates to pay for the past decade of profligate spending , the County simply raised the tax basis.
Jeff Phillips is exactly right:
“Do I feel like the revaluation is a mechanism by which higher revenue is generated, allowing for more spending in the budget of Guilford County?” Phillips said. “I think it’s a valuable question.”
One possible conclusion is that Democrats and so-called conservative Republican's on the Board helped craft this for political cover. Despite assertions to the contrary, that is the one thing they could all agree on. Politics makes strange bedfellows. The lack of any protest from the Commissioners is telling.
Meanwhile, that taxpayer will experience no meaningful distinction when they write out a heftier check this year for taxes on properties that have lost significant value.
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