Make property tax information accessible

Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007

Make property tax information accessible

E-mail this article \ Print this article

The commentary on the County Council’s proposed Bill 24-07, intended to mandate disclosure of property taxes owed by homebuyers, will not solve what is a serious issue for today’s homebuyer (‘‘End tax time surprises for new homeowners,” Nov. 7).

The column correctly identifies the problem — accurate disclosure of property tax information to perspective buyers. The amount taxed for sellers will not be the same for buyers of the property, due to the elimination of the sellers’ accumulated homestead credits. It is not, however, the sellers’ responsibility to determine the future taxable value, or to derive a figure from that value. Sellers and real estate brokers are not tax assessors.

The problem at hand is caused by government abdicating its responsibility for assessing property value. The council should focus on creating a way for the necessary information to be readily available to sellers, buyers and real estate professionals so that full disclosure of property tax information is possible.

Chris Hager, Garrett Park

The writer is a real estate agent with Long and Foster Realtors.