S.T.O.P. Stop Taxing Owners of Property

By Gale Alexander

You’re young, have a good job, work hard, start a family and put money aside so that you can buy your first home in New Milford. With mortgage rates so low you discover that you can buy more house than you’d ever imagined. Or you're in your early 60s and decide that you and your spouse want to spend some time together after a lifetime of working. So you take your small pension and retire. But there's something you've forgotten: The Taxman. In addition to your mortgage, all that you've put into your home over the years -- the cost of the new addition for the unexpected twins, building the sunroom that you and your wife always wanted -- is going to be “assessed” and The Taxman is going to send you a bill. You’re going to be penalized for working hard and saving.

The average home in New Milford is assessed at $190,000. That means The Taxman will make you pay about $4,600 each year in municipal tax, more than 6% of the average New Milford family income of $75,000. That yearly 6% tax can be a significant burden to middle and lower income families and to those in retirement.

What’s more The Taxman doesn't work for free. The tax assessor’s office costs New Milford about $230,000 each year and a whopping additional $750,000 every 10 years to “revalue” your property. I don't think taxing property is fair, making you pay year after year for what you’ve saved and worked so hard to build, either the home that you love or the business that you've created. It’s time to end property based taxation in New Milford and throughout Connecticut.

Over the past 10 years, during which time I've served on the Board of Finance, I have been preparing the Stop Taxing Owners of Property plan, STOP for short, that replaces taxes based on the assessment of property you own with a simple and money-saving tax assessed on income. For a household with an income of $75,000, the S.T.O.P. plan would assess a yearly $4,200 in tax, a drop of nearly 9% compared to the current property-based assessment. Those families making between $32,000 and $100,000 would actually pay less in tax with the S.T.O.P. plan This reduction would benefit new businesses during their less profitable start-up years, those who are not yet working due to the recession and, possibly most important, our retired neighbors who own their homes but are living on fixed incomes. STOP also levels the playing field between heavily capitalized businesses like manufacturing and service or information based businesses that have little property to tax.

Also, the S.T.O.P. plan wouldn’t need a tax assessor or require one additional form to fill out since the state and federal governments already collect income information and would simply download their data to the town. Imagine saving $300,000 a year or having that money available for vital programs here in New Milford. Now imagine the good that could be done with savings the S.T.O.P. plan would provide to every town and city across Connecticut.

There has been an outcry for municipal tax reform for many years. In 2014 we have no time to waste on politicians’ commissions and committees. To sustain America’s recovery from the recent brutal recession we need action, now. Middle income families and our retirees need relief now. I want to do the hard work that will make the S.T.O.P. plan a reality. That’s why I'm asking you to come out on November 4th and vote to send me to Hartford as your state representative.