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Current Virginia Beach property tax assessments
lack good judgment Current
rising real estate tax assessments should be a concern to all Virginia
residents where the property values have risen at a high rate. This is a
major concern here in Thalia where property assessments have risen a
“whopping” 300 to 400% on the average since I bought my home here in
1985. For
those of you who consider your current dwelling your
"permanent" home, those high assessments are not good news.
However, the assessments are not your real enemy when it comes to
property tax. The real enemy is your city council and mayor. The
Virginia state legislature has provided that your overall property tax
cannot go up more than 1 percent per year. As you would expect, there
are loopholes. The loophole that the city council and mayor is now using
is the one that allows them to vote and override the 1 percent increase
after the budget has been voted on by voting to assess taxes at any new
reassessed property values. This loophole is supposed to be used only as
an "exception." This
is not an isolated community only problem. It is a major State and
Virginia Beach problem. This practice used by our city council and mayor
has potentially put many residents out of the homes they worked their
entire lives to be able to afford and live in until they die. With
the amount of natural turnover in home sales, new construction, and
remodeling, the tax base is continually going up anyway. The state
intended to protect its citizens from undue tax increases on their homes
but that fact has been lost by our city council and mayor.
We
should ask and demand that our State Legislators close the tax loophole
being used by our city council and mayor to unfairly tax “permanent”
homeowners. It is our
responsibility to make the city council and mayor represent our
interests within the intent and spirit of the law. If we do nothing,
expect nothing in return. Reginald S. Early - Virginia Beach |