On the heels of the release by the Center for Local Innovation of the 2005 By The Numbers report on what local government costs in North Carolina, I was struck by a letter to the editor published this week in The Wall Street Journal. It boldly illustrates the powerful impact of property taxes on each and every one of us.
Georgena Terry of Macedon, New York wrote this:
“You included Rochester, N.Y., as one of the most affordable U.S. housing markets, along with several other upstate New York cities (“Family Finance: The Nation’s Least-Affordable Housing Markets,” Jan. 12), I wonder how affordable housing really is here upstate. Our property taxes are 70% above the national average. The owner of a $200,000 home can expect to pay about $7,200 in taxes. Compare that with the $419,900 Minnesota home you featured in the same issue with property taxes of $3,895. Upstate New York affordable? Not by any stretch of the imagination.”
The moral: take a look at By The Numbers to see how your North Carolina county and city fares compared to its neighbors.
