A Spell Worthy of Harry Potter

This is one of those, 'I couldn’t have said it better myself,' things.

From page 1 of the Courier July 19, 2007 by Ron Schaming, Jr.
(Reprinted without permission)

"Only in a reappraisal year can the illusion of raising taxes be lowering the property tax rate be performed.

If the Hardin County Commission approves a proposal from its budget committee to increase the property tax rate by 30 cents this month, that’s exactly what will happen.

Every six years, a county-wide reappraisal takes place to determine what changes have occurred in property values, based on comparable sales.

According to the Hardin County Assessor of Property’ office, the county experienced an average increase of 37 percent.

But state law says such a reappraisal cannot be used to generate more revenue for ta county. So, the tax rate has to be adjusted downward to a point where it is ‘revenue neutral’ for the county as a whole.

The current property tax in Hardin County is $1.82.

The revenue neutral rate, or ‘certified tax rate" in Hardin County is to be set at $1.37, or 45 cents less than it is now.

Raising the property rate by 30 cents would bring the new rate to $1.67, or 15 cents less than it is today.

And Presto Chango, by a wave of the magical wand of government accounting, a 22 percent tax increase can be disguised as a tax reduction."

Good Job, Ron.

Respectfully,

Ted