Property Tax Reform That Works For Everyone

The goal of the property tax is to provide funds to pay for the tax levy.

The property tax is better at this than any other form of taxation. The tax levy is always funded once the tax rate is calculated.

In addition, a successful tax policy must ensure a fair distribution of the tax burden.

This means that the taxes people pay should reflect the budget needs of their town, e.g. if a town eliminated tax increases, property owners should not expect higher tax bills.

Fair also means that a person who buys a $1 million dollar home should pay a fair tax on a million dollar home. To ensure this, we revalue every three years, since without revaluation new owners are taxed on older assessments.

But with revaluation, existing owners' property taxes reflect the housing market and not the tax levy.

So we have a dilemma because we can't revalue and not revalue in the same year.

A video explanation.

One solution is to use a "Property Owners Tax", a tax based on the prior year's tax bill, and adjusted enough to fund the tax levy.

In the case of a new owner who has no prior tax bill, the tax is based on the Market Value just as it is currently. This tax then becomes the prior tax the following year.

With the R.I.G.H.T plan, property taxes will be:

always consistent with and determined by local spending
always fair to new owners, not just every third year.
limited just as the tax levy is limited (S 3050).

That's true reform! We can do this:

1. Assure fair and rational payments for all property owners. See how unfair it is using real tax data from real towns.	More →
2. Assure an affordable level of local spending.	More →
3. Assure fair treatment for tax exempt property.	More →
4. Assure that tax levy limits don't become tax targets.	More →

Contact us to arrange for a short slide presentation for your group of friends, neighbors or organization that explains it in detail .

Rhode Island Gets Honorable Taxation Property Tax Are you paying more than your fair share?

Rhode Island Gets Honorable Taxation

Property Tax
Are you paying more than your fair share?