Every three years in late December, when people are focusing on the holidays, I receive my Maryland property tax assessment. The latest hike is on average 13 percent for residential properties, a tax increase that no politician would propose if he or she hoped to get reelected. Politicians merely get to hide behind an unjust property tax system.
I have been hit with property tax increases as high as 26 percent in a home that has had practically no improvements compared with the torn-down-and-rebuilt or highly renovated homes of neighbors that the tax assessor deems “comparables” to determine my tax increase. I have appealed each of these steep hikes and lost to a bureaucratic, politically protected process.
I am not sure why more homeowners (and voters) are not outraged by this triennial injustice. If I had the money, I would fund a taxpayer revolt like the Proposition 13 amendment to the California Constitution in 1978. Proposition 13 saved my parents from losing my childhood home by capping the property tax rate at 1 percent of assessed value and restricting tax increases to 2 percent annually.
In each of my unsuccessful appeals to Maryland assessors, I have argued that I would be happy to sell my house at the newly assessed price. My property taxes exceed my mortgage payment and threaten my ability — and the ability of many others — to age in place in this state.
Glenn S. Easton, Chevy Chase
I share the concerns in the Jan. 7 editorial “Mamdani’s new tenant advocate wants to seize private property” regarding New York City’s relaunched Office to Protect Tenants. Clearly, the political beliefs of Cea Weaver, the office’s director, are not representative of most New Yorkers (though calling her “tsarina” was rather strident).
Studies on the middle class by the Brookings Institution have shown that real estate ownership is a potent weapon in establishing a sense of community, involvement in bettering schools, decreased crime and myriad related benefits. Unfortunately, achieving this goal is extremely difficult in a city with insufficient housing, which drives both rent and sale prices to unattainable levels. Fostering homeownership would help New Yorkers much more than forcing landlords to abandon their property, whether through seizure or through rent control that leads to bankruptcies.
Barry H. Epstein, Silver Spring
Echoes of 2017 and 1970
As we mourn Renée Good, shot to death last week by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, let us recall the 2017 murder of Heather D. Heyer in Charlottesville, where a supporter of the white-supremacist Unite the Right march drove his car into a crowd of peaceful protesters. Neither Heyer nor Good had broken any law or put anyone in danger. They were killed for exercising their civil rights. President Donald Trump called the Unite the Right marchers “very fine people.” And ICE agents “heroes.”
Are ICE agents being given bad training or bad orders? The Republican majority in Congress, which exercises oversight of the executive branch, owes us an answer. Until then, ICE should be taken off our streets.
Annlinn Kruger, Bar Harbor, Maine
It has been a long time since May 4, 1970, when Ohio National Guard troops fired on anti-Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine. Most eyewitnesses contradicted the claims of these armed, armored and trained soldiers that they feared for their lives and had no choice but to shoot unarmed students. Judging from the 37-year-old mother of three being shot and killed on a street with masked and armed government agents in Minneapolis, we have learned little in 56 years.
There is one hope from this poor woman’s killing, if we remember how the Kent State massacre helped galvanize Americans to demand answers. Americans must now do this loudly. And legally.
Stan Heuisler, Baltimore
What — and whom — Venezuela needs
Regarding the Jan. 5 editorial “The known unknowns in Venezuela”:
What must not be forgotten is that Venezuela is experiencing a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations World Food Program says 5.1 million Venezuelans urgently require food assistance.
Sadly, the Trump administration has cut back on humanitarian aid funding at a time when Venezuela and many other countries need help. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Food for Peace program, which has helped save many countries from famine, could especially use a big funding boost. President Donald Trump, who vows to “run” Venezuela, would be shrewd to send food aid to Venezuelans, who need hope for peace.
William Lambers, Cincinnati
The writer partnered with the WFP on the book “Ending World Hunger.”
Reviving the Venezuelan economy will require the citizens who left the country. Many of the roughly 8 million are highly skilled and will be needed to support key investments in the country. The Trump administration must work with Venezuela’s government to ensure their safe return and guarantee there will be no retribution for having fled the country.
Ed Houlihan, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Post Opinions wants to know: Bob Brody’s Dec. 30 op-ed, “Every family has a history. Here’s how to hand it down.,” encouraged children to interview their parents and grandparents. How has your family preserved its history? What have you discovered? Send us your response, and it might be published as a letter to the editor. wapo.st/family_history
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