Congratulations! You may not have realized it was happening, but your municipality has put you in a special revitalization zone which means the property taxes you owe them will quintuple. That’s the message some suburban Maryland business owners got recently, subject of my new Cato piece. Excerpt:
Specialists in local and state government policy are full of ideas for business-by-business and location-by-location tinkering with tax rates, both downward (as part of incentive packages to lure relocating businesses) and upward (to finance special public services provided in some zones, such as downtown revitalization). But there is a distinct value in terms of both public legitimacy and the rule of law in having uniform and consistent taxation that does not depend on whether a property owner or business is on the ins or on the outs with the tax-setting authorities.
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Bill of attainder? Even if it’s only a Bill of Real Estate Tax?
“But there is a distinct value in terms of both public legitimacy and the rule of law in having uniform and consistent taxation that does not depend on whether a property owner or business is on the ins or on the outs with the tax-setting authorities.”
That is an understatement. The idea of government getting the benefit of the doubt in these sorts of disputes is predicated on a general fairness of process (with exceptions to fairness being rate). Where this sort of thing is open and notorious (to borrow a phrase), all of that should go out the window. If the taxing authority is being used to stick it to unconnected people, the remedy shouldn’t be to simply make it close to right after years of appeals etc.
And this sort of thing legitimizes tax cheating etc. as well. If the government is going to act this way, then all we are talking about is power. And once we are in that realm, then two wrongs do make a right.
And taken to extremes, this sort of thing promotes anarchy. We all have an interest in stability and order. But government’s monopoly on force is predicated on it generally respecting the rights of the people.