NASSAU COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC.
"The government is us, we are the government, you and I." Teddy Roosevelt
|
NASSAU COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC. "The government is us, we are the government, you and I." Teddy Roosevelt |
|
February 21, 2004
The Real Tax Challenge
By Seth D. Bykofsky
Year after year, Nassau County residents are urged to “challenge” their property tax assessments. Why, even the Town of Hempstead, which does not set the assessment, encourages us to file for Assessment Review. Unfortunately, telling folks to challenge their assessments, and giving them the tools to do so, is like handing a starving man a fishing pole and sending him out to Death Valley, encouraging him, no less, with false hope, enticing him with the offer of letting him keep all the fish he can catch. In reality, the prospects of both the challenge and the fishing expedition are slim, yielding little appreciable result.
Truth is, most houses in our area, given the recent up trend in the real estate market, are assessed at or somewhat less than actual market value. The “challenge,” therefore, is misdirected at the assessment. Instead, its focus should be the property tax system and its processes. Face it, the Nassau County property tax, in both form and substance, is the modern day equivalent of pilfering and pillaging.
Yes, the property tax could be made equitable – this by taxing all residents too much and most residents beyond their means. The property tax cannot, however, by any means short of replacing it with a less regressive method of revenue raising, be made “fair.”
This taxpayer, for one, would like to know what proposals are in the hopper, or at least on the minds of those who assess and tax, for that long-awaited and much needed property tax relief?
The writer is Co-Chair of the Tri-Community Alliance of Elmont, Franklin Square and West Hempstead, and a Past President of the West Hempstead Civic Association.