The property tax shell game continues.
The Haverhill City Council approved a property tax rate Tuesday night that will tax local business and industry at 150 percent of value, which means homeowners will pay taxes on less than the full value of their properties.
Why? The standard line every year is that hard-pressed homeowners need a break, and it is fair to force the faceless, allegedly wealthy, commercial and industrial sector to subsidize that break.
It apparently looks good to the homeowners. It helps the politicians keep getting reelected.
But again, it's a shell game. Making businesses poorer does not make homeowners richer in the long term. They may pay less in property taxes, but they will pay more in the cost of the goods that those businesses produce, or in lost jobs, lower pay and benefits from businesses that are being overtaxed. The "break" is an illusion.
Do councilors seriously think, in the depths of a recession with unemployment at double-digit levels, that the best way to restore economic health is to undermine the ability of local businesses to grow and create jobs? Are they unaware that businesses are not just buildings and products, but people who are struggling to survive?
That is the point James Jajuga, president of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, was trying to make when he told the council, "These businesses employ Haverhill residents, pay taxes and spend money in the community."
Haverhill isn't alone, of course, nor is it the worst — Lawrence takes the award in this region for socking it to business in the name of protecting the homeowner. It taxes business and industry at 175 percent of value.
And it is true that homeowners need a break. But business needs a break too. If local politicians were serious about "protecting" homeowners, they would make a much more aggressive effort to cut the cost of government instead of trying to mask the impact of constantly increased spending by shifting it to a group that has a less effective lobby.
Councilor David Hall was typical, claiming he was a champion of the poor. "I'm here for the widows and the widowers living on $1,200 a month when all their bills are going up," he said.
Such posturing ought to embarrass him and the entire council. If he was really there for them, he and his colleagues would be cutting spending. Indeed, even though residential property owners are getting a break, their taxes are going up. The bill for the average single-family home is expected to rise by $109. But that is a pittance compared to the commercial sector, which will get hit with an average $1,135 increase. The average industrial bill will rise by $2,295.
Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini is complicit in this as well. A year ago, the council made a token move toward lessening the imbalance with a 5-2 vote to cut the business tax levy from 150 percent to 145 percent. But Fiorentini vetoed it. The mayor has made much of his campaign to attract business to the city. The ongoing attack on businesses through overtaxation is not the way to do it.
