4.8% tax increase
planned
The Montgomery County Council, contrary to fake news headlines, is planning to raise your property taxes this year. A required legal announcement published by the Council confirms the planned tax hike in black and white, despite County officials' false claims of no increase.
"Notice of a proposed real property tax increase," the legal notice proclaims. "The County Council of Montgomery County proposes to increase real property taxes," it states. Despite annual false claims of "holding the line on property taxes," MoCo property taxes automatically increase due to rising assessments. The only way the Council could fulfill a promise of "holding the line," or "no tax increase," would be to lower the tax rate by the amount required to offset that automatic increase.
According to the Council's required legal statement, the Council "is considering not reducing its real property tax rate enough to fully offset increasing assessments." Instead, the Council is proposing to hike property taxes by 4.8%.
But while the Council is required by law to disclose their planned tax hike in the legal announcement, County officials and their friends in the media have been falsely claiming no tax increase is proposed. "No tax increases in Montgomery County proposed budget," blared a fake headline on WTOP.com. "It’s what residents don’t see in Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed 2020 budget that might impress them the most: no tax increases," the article falsely announced.
The Washington Post's Jennifer Barrios, who never wrote a single article covering the general election County Council At-Large race in 2018 (and unprofessionally didn't even respond to emails during the campaign), tells an even bigger whopper of a lie this morning on the Post website by claiming a tax cut. All three local media statements are entirely false, as these photographs of the actual legal tax hike announcement clearly show.
Fact Check: Because County elected officials and the County cartel-controlled media have told this lie annually for many years, Post fact-checking standards require me to award them the new "Bottomless Pinocchio" rating for those who "repeat a false claim so many times that they are, in effect, engaging in campaigns of disinformation.”
Saith Dyer: "The Washington Post's Jennifer Barrios, who never wrote a single article covering the general election County Council At-Large race in 2018 (and unprofessionally didn't even respond to emails during the campaign) ["Waa waa waa!" -ed.], tells an even bigger whopper of a lie this morning on the Post website by claiming a tax cut."
ReplyDeleteHere is what Washington Post reporter Jennifer Barrios actually wrote:
"[The County budget] proposes a property tax rate of $0.9786 per $100 of assessed value, slightly below the current rate of 98 cents."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/montgomery-council-to-hold-public-hearings-on-budget-proposal/2019/04/07/31651cca-5650-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html
I feel sorry for the local self proclaimed reporters at the Post and WTOP. I'd feel dirty and used if I just carried water for local politicians all day.
ReplyDeleteThe "Patch" cozy relationship with government model of local news has taken over the these old legacy newspapers, print magazines and terrestrial radio stations.
Remember, WTOP had more coverage of a councilman's colorful socks than it had of the county council general election. That's not a real news source, just reprints press releases.
6:58: LOL, thanks for only proving my story is correct, and that Barrios made a false statement. I've got the legal document shown right here in the article. It does not show a rate "slightly below the current rate;" it shows a 4.8% tax hike.
ReplyDeleteThe key difference: the Council and Barrios can make any public false statement - but the legal document pictured here cannot, and shows the actual tax HIKE.
Why is the Post lying for this government?
ReplyDeleteDyer is suffering from an extreme case of Li Young syndrome.
ReplyDelete8:39am Dyer received the most votes of any Republican is his field, was voted onto the Republican central committee, is involved in local issues, owns the first digital news network in the county.
DeleteNot exactly Lih Young. (Is she still alive?)
"Robert Dyer: View My Complete Profile:
ReplyDelete"About me
"Gender: MALE
"Industry: Publishing
"Location: Bethesda, MD, United States"
LOL
1:18 PM Your Robert Dyer obsession continues. For a man you claim is so utterly irrelevant, you keep an encyclopedic knowledge of what he does.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the "Winners". We have four more years of the same anti-business crew Amazon gave a hard pass to.
Glass and Riemer were part of the night time economy task force several years ago.
ReplyDelete(Because when you think night life, Glass and Riemer are the first people you'd think of, right?)
No wonder the major nightlife recommendations were that Bethesda needed more Barwood taxi stands and more buses. Now, I may not be as wild as Evan or Hans, but I've never once heard someone say "I'm catching Barwood cab" or "bus" after a night out.
3:20pm
ReplyDeleteDirectly from the Nighttime Economy Task Force recommendations:
"Increase the number of taxi stands"
Will anonymous criticize all off topic comments or just mine? I simply followed up on the conversation about our lackluster Council.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIs the full document available somewhere for public review?
ReplyDelete6:15: The actual document is pictured here. It legally must be published in local newspapers as a public notice.
ReplyDeleteWhere was it published? And how does asking this question violate your “comment policy”?
DeleteSo why don't you cite the local newspaper in which it appeared?
ReplyDelete#Plagiarism
#You'reGoingToJail
#Journalism101
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/Resources/Files/agenda/col/2019/20190402/20190402_2F.pdf
ReplyDeletethe Council advertises an artificially high rate like this every April, but then in May they typically approve a rate very close to what the Executive recommended in their budget, which in this case is .7202, lower than the CYTR.
8:38: They have to cut the rate by the amount specified in the notice in order to prevent the tax hike. They most certainly did not do that in any recent year. I believe 2014 (election year, of course) they reduced it enough to save the average homeowner a whopping $12. Of course, that's $12 off the ridiculously high property tax it was already jacked up to over the previous years. Many are paying $11K, $12K+ annually now.
ReplyDeleteThere's no good way to spin an annual tax increase as good news, despite the best efforts of Jennifer Barrios and others at the Post.
7:32: I'm not obligated to help my competitors after doing the legwork myself.
7:24: You sound like a mental patient. Photographing a government announcement public dollars paid for is "plagiarism?" Punch yourself, moron!
So if I made more money in 2018 than I did in 2019 and my income taxes go up despite the lower tax rates the Federal Government has raised my taxes?
ReplyDelete2:43: Income taxes are not property taxes. They are assessed differently. In the case of what we're discussing here, if the Council does not reduce the rate to offset the automatic increase, it is indeed a tax hike.
ReplyDelete“You wouldn’t worry so much
ReplyDeleteabout what others think of you
if you realized how seldom they do.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt