Tax Assessments

Across the state, and particularly in the Baltimore region, voters' concerns about uncontrolled growth and higher taxes knocked out incumbents and catapulted some virtual unknowns to prominence in key primary races.The fallout from Tuesday's primaries undoubtedly will be felt during the general election, although to what extent is still unclear.In a move that helped define the political landscape before the primary, angry residents in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties launched revolts against rising property tax assessments, attempting to roll them back by petitioning to bring the issue to referendum.

Robert R. Neall, the former state drug policy coordinator, wants to be known as the man who can just say no.Neall is not talking about drugs this time but about those fancy parks and projects that, he claims, cause Democrats' mouths to water.As Election Day approaches, Neall, the Republican candidate for Anne Arundel County executive, is trying to portray his opponent, County Councilman Theodore J. Sophocleus, as a big-spending Democrat who is too indebted to special interests to make tough budget cuts.

Angry homeowners raised such a ruckus over their sharply increased property assessments last January that they forced changes in state laws designed to soften the impact of those ballooning values on tax bills.Now, as a new round of higher assessment notices is mailed throughout the state, the question becomes: Will they do it again?Not likely, say the leaders of tax revolts in Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties.After losing battles over local tax caps, property owners have begun to realize that they should focus on government spending rather than assessments, said Robert R. Denny, head of Montgomery County's Fairness in Taxation.

The Annapolis city council approved last night a city budget for the next fiscal year that reduces the property tax rate by 2.4 cents, though many homeowners will see higher taxes due to increased assessments. Few amendments were made to the budget that the mayor called "bare bones" when she introduced it to the council last month. The $54.9 million spending plan - which goes into effect July 1 - includes a 5.4 percent reduction in general fund spending, achieved mainly by slashing the amount to be transferred to the capital projects budget by more than 80 percent.

From: W. Ray HuffDelegate, District 31Many people have complained that their property tax has increasedsubstantially. Therefore, I suggested that these appeal their assessments. However, although many of them have already gone through the appeal process, they are still experiencing tremendous property tax increases.I have therefore introduced a bill to bring to the attention of the legislators that in a lot of cases the tax assessors are overtaxing. House Bill 711 would allow those those people dissatisfiedwith their tax assessments to request that the state purchase their real property for an amount equal to the assessment less 10 percent.

Harry and Catherine Clemons admitted they were nervous -- "It was our first time," Catherine said -- but afterward they smiled like school kids.The Clemonses laughed at themselves, somewhat proudly, as they stood outside White Marsh library yesterday, reviewing their first encounter with a property assessor.They are among thousands in Baltimore County and the state who appealed their 1990 property tax assessments and who this week are taking their first crack at getting that assessment lowered.

It's hard to decide which is worse: the notion that dozens of Baltimore City parking lots might not be paying the taxes they owe, or the fact that the city is so disorganized that it's not sure whether they are. Sun reporter Julie Scharper reported Tuesday on a preliminary audit of tax records showing that city workers were unable to find records of tax payments in a city database for 52 parking lots that were advertised online or elsewhere or...

Builders are paying so much for leftover land in northeastern Howard County that some residents are facing sharply higher property tax assessments -- and pressure to develop their land or move. It's a vicious cycle driven by the growing scarcity of building lots in the Ellicott City and Elkridge areas -- and by a quirk in Maryland's tax laws. A state cap on assessment increases covers only a home and 1 acre. As a result, retirees and others who own more acreage could face thousands of dollars in new taxes.

Caps not cause of discrepancies in property tax Maryland's property tax system is a shambles. However, The Sun's article "Homebuyers fume at tax differences" (July 31) falsely suggested that the only cause of the problem of unequal taxes is the property tax caps enacted to protect existing homeowners at the expense of new buyers. The real culprit is that the state's system for assessing properties is completely arbitrary and irrational. In Mount Vernon alone, nearly identical properties can have underlying assessments that vary by hundreds of thousands of dollars.