[RP TownTalk] Should apartments pay their fair share in taxes?

[Gerard Kiernan]

All,

What Rob proposes is a tax with no benefit to the entity being taxed.  When
Mike Herman, as Mayor, wanted to significantly raise the license fee defined
in Chapter 42, the Washington Metropolitan Area Apartment Owners Association
threatened to sue the Town because there was no service associated with the
business license fee that they were paying.  Thus, Mike had the Council vote
to take over multi-unit apartment inspections from the County in exchange
for the higher license fee..  We had previously taken over single family
rental property inspection.

Most Councilmembers  worked very hard, in writing legislation, to make sure
that different sections of the Code do not conflict with each other.

I don't understand the motivation behind the proposal. As presented, it is
somewhat anti-apartment dweller.  I am a life-long apartment dweller.  I
have no desire to maintain a lawn and garden, worry about roof leaks, or
crawling under the kitchen sink to fix a leak, or shovel snow and ice in the
middle of the night.  If those things constitute your " pursuit of
happiness" as described in the Declaration of Independence, so be it.  It is
not my vision of happiness.  I prefer to pay someone to provide those
services for me.  I prefer different forms of investments than paying for
land (i.e., a 30 year mortgage).

Just because I have a different vision of happiness does not make me a
second class citizen, or to be looked down on as  probably being mentally
defective.

To the single family homeowners of Riverdale Park, just be happy that you
don't have to pay the full ride for all of the services that you consume.

Gerry Kiernan   





From: Rob Oppenheim <rob.oppenheim at comcast.net>
Reply-To: rob.oppenheim at comcast.net
Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 19:18:14 -0400
To: TownTalk <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Should apartments pay their fair share in taxes?


 On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 16:20:05 -0400, Roland Walker wrote:

 
>We do have such a fee.  It is $75/unit.
 
 
My understanding is that fee is for inspecting the units.
And while it is similar to what I am proposing, it is different than a
true rental license fee. (And even if it is the same thing, it is too
small.)
 
 
Section 55-5 establishes a rental license fee of $100, but 55-4(c) exempts
apt buildings. "Any owner of record of a multi-family apartment house, as
defined in § H-210.0 of the Housing Code, shall be exempt from this section
..."
 

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