One great thing about moving back to our home state of Kentucky from Pennsylvania: property taxes are much lower in the Bluegrass State! Property taxes on what was our home in Jim Thorpe are currently listed as $3,228 according to Zillow, while we paid slightly under $400 in property taxes on our current abode last October.
No, $400 is not a typo!
Black and brown homeowners unfairly targeted by Philly’s new property assessments
The Kenney administration cannot claim to center either racial or housing equity if they are making it more difficult for working class and Black and brown homeowners to afford to their homes.
by Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier (D – 3rd District) | Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Philadelphia prides itself on its high homeownership rates, especially among working class residents. But the massive property assessment increases that were announced earlier this week present an immediate threat to this fact of life in our city — especially in Black and brown neighborhoods experiencing rapid gentrification. A disproportionate number of these neighborhoods are in the 3rd Councilmanic District, where residential assessments have increased by 50% on average.Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier (D-Philadelphia). Photo from her city biography page and is a public record. Click to enlarge.
I will admit to some amusement that The Philadelphia Inquirer’s use of the Associated Press Stylebook has led to the “Black and brown” formulation when it comes to race. The AP decided that black was to be capitalized when referring to race, but white was not.
After changing its usage rules last month to capitalize the word “Black” when used in the context of race and culture, The Associated Press on Monday said it would not do the same for “white.” The AP said white people in general have much less shared history and culture, and don’t have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. Protests following the death of George Floyd, which led to discussions of policing and Confederate symbols, also prompted many news organizations to examine their own practices and staffing. The Associated Press, whose Stylebook is widely influential in the industry, announced June 19 it would make Black uppercase. In some ways, the decision over “white” has been more ticklish. The National Association of Black Journalists and some Black scholars have said white should be capitalized, too. “We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems,” (John) Daniszewski (the AP’s vice president for standards) said. “But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
So, does not capitalizing “brown” also subtly convey legitimacy to whatever? 🙂 But I digress. Back to Councilwoman Gauthier:
City Council offices are currently being flooded with calls from residents who are rightfully confused about why things shook out the way they did. Assessments vary wildly from property to property on the same block: We’ve heard from many residents whose assessments rose significantly, while their immediate neighbors’ did not.
Beyond the larger-than-expected assessments themselves, the entire rollout process has been nothing short of chaotic. The assessments were released without any explanation for how they were calculated, let alone a formal methodology. There hasn’t been clear communication around the appeals process — in particular, what steps people should take and tips for filing a successful appeal.
Additionally, the Office of Property Assessment has admitted they don’t know when residents will receive hardcopy assessments, due to supply chain issues that have caused a shortage of envelopes. (Seriously.) This means certain residents already know their assessments, while others — whether they lack computer skills or don’t have internet access at home, or are unable to navigate city bureaucracy — will have to wait some unknown length of time to receive their assessment in the mail. Meanwhile, residents who wish to file an appeal of their property assessment to the Board of Revision of Taxes need to do so by Monday, October 3 — leaving older and less affluent residents who are waiting for their assessments in the mail little time to get their materials in order. This is an equity issue that will have serious repercussions on some of our most vulnerable residents in our fastest gentrifying communities.
Ahhh, there’s that evil gerund, “gentrifying.” As we have previously noted, many of the residents in West Philadelphia, part of Councilwoman Gauthier’s district, don’t like gentrification, don’t like it when white people move into traditionally black neighborhoods.
Property taxes in the Keystone State are high in part because the state income tax rate is relatively low, a single rate 3.07%. While many localities impose a 1% wage tax, Philly’s is much higher, 3.8398% for city residents and 3.4481% for non-residents.
That’s higher than the Commonwealth’s income tax!
But property taxes are much lower in Philly. This home, at 1237 North 19th Street, is listed for sale on Zillow for $139,900, an amount within $1,000 of what my old home in Jim Thorpe sold for in 2021, was assessed a property tax of $413 in 2021, a far cry from the $3,228 my previous home is charged.
I will admit it: I do not agree with the concept of property taxes at all! The entire concept of property taxes is based on the notion that people do not actually own the property for which they have paid, but are being allowed to claim it as their own by the benevolent city government. But if the city is going to depend in part on property taxes, then eliminating them would mean having to raise other taxes to make up for the revenue. With a current wage tax of 3.8398% on city residents, an income of $84,066.88 will wind up generating just as much as we paid in property taxes in our home up the Northeast Extension.
With a median household income of $49,127, Philadelphia residents at or below the median are paying $1,886.38 in wage taxes, so it’s kind of difficult for me to have much sympathy for a property tax reassesment; they are being taxed less than many other Pennsylvania residents, and the city is imposing that significant wage tax, the highest in the nation, on non-residents. People who live outside the City of Brotherly Love — with its 171 homicides as of 11:59 PM EDT on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 — are being taxed to support Miss Gauthier’s constituents.
Of course, Miss Gauthier told us, very directly, that she was primarily concerned with her “Black and brown neighborhoods experiencing rapid gentrification.” I’m pretty sure that means she has white constituents as well, and their property taxes are rising as well, as their property assessments increase. While gentrification raises all property values in a neighborhood, it raises the property valuations of the gentrified properties themselves more.
The district has been represented by Democrats for generations, by Lucien Blackwell starting in 1975, and, after he died in 1992, his wife Jannie Blackwell; Miss Gautier defeated Mrs Blackwell in the May 2019 Democratic primary. And, as noted above, the residents of the district really don’t want white people moving into black neighborhoods. I guess that increases their property values — and their taxes — too much!
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Also posted on American Free News Network. Check out more great conservative stories on American Free News Network.