Reform Property Taxes

With the housing market meltdown, we are seeing more proposals for across-the-board caps on property tax rates -- a bad idea that delivers most of the tax benefits to wealthier property owners.  Instead, a better approach are Property Tax Circuit Breakers, which limit property taxes to a percentage of a taxpayer's income, while fully taxing the property of wealthy homeowners.  A variation on the circuit breaker idea are programs that defer payment of property tax increases for certain homeowners until the property is sold, allowing owners to wait until the profits from selling the land make paying the taxes less of a burden. As well, a key strategy for progressives should be to expand homestead exemptions and other tax relief programs to include more working families,