Habitat for Inhumanity

An article in the Richmond Times Dispatch of Virginia explains the plight of people who've had houses built for them by Habitat for Humanity, especially in Alexandria. An increase in property asessments have lead to double and triple increases in property tax payments. The paper sites the case of Kesha James.

Her home has doubled in value since it was built in 1999, increasing her monthly house payment from $515 to $954 in the past 18 months -- chiefly because of higher property taxes.

In Rome, new houses would have lower property taxes for the first 10 years. Of course, the effective tax rate counting city, school, and county property tax adds up to nearly 5% of the assessed value of a home. Most of the assessments are also about double any actual resale value. I sense a connection between this kind of rampant taxation and the increasing sight of U-Haul trucks in the city like the one I saw in North Rome today.