Tax Bill

If you like seeing what sorts of homes pay tens of thousands of dollars in property taxes, today's your lucky day. Here's a photo gallery of Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County and Carroll County homes with top bills, the latest in our gallery series ranking owner-occupied properties for the tax year that ended June 30. Every single one of the Arundel homes is in Annapolis. Given its waterfront and pricey residences, that might not come as a surprise. But the extent of the top suburban bill (also in Annapolis)

Now that the Sun has brought to light the Maryland Tax Assessment Office blunder of properly taxing property taxes for Silo Point and the Ritz Carlton Residences, maybe it is time for some law enforcement agency to look into the income of certain tax assessors ("Condos' tax bill see big increase," July 16). Better yet, maybe MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakewill ask to City Council to remove the bottle tax since the city will now have all this new tax revenue coming in. Here is a better solution: Tax property on the acquired price the seller paid for the property.

Louis Schechter had a what-the-heck moment when he opened his property-tax bill. Why did it go up when his assessed value was down? "I appealed my assessment and the city did lower it from $244,000 to $154,800, which is much more in line," he wrote in an email. "However, last year I had a city credit of $2875, but this year I only got a credit of $629. The proportions are way off, and I can't find the formula as to how they calculate the credit. " This question pops up every July as tax bills arrive -- at least since the market went from boom to bust.

Two luxury condominium complexes alongside Baltimore's waterfront will have to pay nearly $2.3 million in additional property taxes this year, thanks to new assessed values that acknowledge — four years after the first residents moved in — that the buildings' empty units actually exist. The almost 190 units still owned by the developers of the Ritz-Carlton Residences and Silo Point had been taxed as if they were empty lots, even as residents were paying high-end prices – frequently more than $1 million in the case of the Ritz — to live in other condos in the same buildings.

Heads up, Baltimore: Property-tax bills will be arriving a bit late. They're normally sent out by July 1, but the city's Department of Finance is warning that some might be mailed up to a week later because the tax rate wasn't certified until June 25 . Once the City Council approves the rate as part of the budget, the state Department of Assessments and Taxation needs five to seven business days to prepare tax assessment files for...

Property tax bills in Baltimore are getting a bit more transparent, even if the same can't be said of the Rawlings-Blake administration when it comes to detailing those changes. The homestead tax credit now appears on bills as - wait for it - a “homestead credit,” according to an online check of 2011-12 tax bills. Presumably the change will continue with the new bills that are due to go out soon for the tax year beginning July 1. For years, the homestead tax break was listed as an “assessment credit,” fueling confusion among homeowners who had no idea what that meant.

While largely ignoring the trial of former U.S. Senator John Edwards, The Sun apparently found more breaking, vital news in Jenna Bush Hager and Henry Hager getting a less than $300 tax break on their second home/rental property while they live in permanent "digs in Manhattan" ("Bush kin gone but get homestead tax credit," May 1). In addition, there were lengthy details about their exact Baltimore property assessment and rental fees. Now that's breaking news. Are you kidding me?

They're some of the priciest condos in the city, but they're taxed like empty lots. At the Ritz-Carlton Residences along Baltimore's Inner Harbor — where a recent sale topped $1.5 million — the tax bill for most of the condos was $1,309 apiece this year. At Silo Point, an industrial conversion with gourmet kitchens, hardwood floors and sweeping views of the city, the bill for many of the units is $238 each. Even though they were built years ago, and city inspectors declared them ready to live in, they are still valued for tax purposes as though construction never got off the ground.

A bill authorizing a tax subsidy for developers of a west side revitalization project is expected to be introduced during Monday's Baltimore City Council meeting. The subsidy, in the form of a Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, would go to Lexington Square Partners LLC, developers of the proposed $150 million Lexington Square apartment and retail project in an area known as the Superblock, which has long been targeted for renewal. The tax break is being proposed to help offset the cost of building a 296-unit apartment tower and a 650-space garage.