Lighten the burden

The D.C. Council held yet another hearing this week on proposals to lighten homeowners’ property-tax burdens. While we applaud the D.C. Finance and Revenue Committee for again listening to voices for and against the cap on property taxes, Tuesday’s public hearing was unnecessary.

To be clear, a lower cap is needed for senior citizens and others on fixed incomes to keep their homes, as well as to encourage new homeowners to buy houses and move into the city. The 10 percent tax cap, as proposed in the tax-relief bill that was voted out of committee last fall, would help provide the means.

Critics of the Owner-Occupant Residential Tax Credit Act complain that lowering the current 25 percent cap on increased property taxes would a) cost the city between $18 million and $24 million in lost revenue and b) result in uneven benefits to taxpayers. One liberal lawmaker even called it a “phony” tax cut.

Notwithstanding the fact that all tax cuts mean less money for government coffers, the reality is that longtime homeowners deserve a return on the their investment, especially since homeowners — many of them seniors — saw their assessments rise more than 25 percent and some as high as 70 percent. In fact, the drastic rise in assessments led Finance Committee Chairman Jack Evans to draft another tax-relief measure. That bill would grant pre-tax deductions to many homeowners. As for the argument that a lower cap would not treat all homeowners equally, the fact of that matter is that not all houses — and surely not all neighborhoods — are equal.

Council member Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, called the legislation “phony tax cutting.” What he and others contributing to the amendment follies have not admitted is that their proposals would actually raise property taxes and add to the cost of running the city. A few examples: One amendment would defer tax payments; another would “cost” more than the original tax-cutting legislation; and yet another would make the 10 percent cap temporary for two years, after which the cap would revert back to 25 percent.

The two-year time frame is no coincidence, since it will be election time and lawmakers know that no serious candidate for mayor could afford to speak of tax increases while stomping for votes.

Lawmakers should end their fiscal and political follies. The tax-cut bill, co-sponsored by Mr. Evans, a Democrat, and David Catania, a Republican, is sensible fiscal policy. Lawmakers like Mr. Mendelson should be asking, “Where do I sign,” instead of proposing phony schemes that would raise the cost of living in Washington.