Beating a Dead Horse (With Some New Evidence)
Devotees will remember my reservations about the passage of the property tax reform bill (which prevents backdoor tax increases through reassessment). Well it turns out that compliance with the new legislation is going to cost St. Louis County more than $700,000.
And it may not just cost the county government, but the state government as well. Eugene Leung, St. Louis County’s revenue director, argues that the property tax bill’s requirements amount to an unfunded mandate, in violation of the Missouri Constitution, and therefore the state may have to pony up the bill anyway.
So not only will the bill subsidize existing homeowners at the expense of new homeowners (as I’ve argued), but it also will require taxpayers across the state to pay for the bill’s compliance costs.
