Baltimore touts one-cent property tax cut, but critics call it a ‘shell game’

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Baltimore city leaders are celebrating a promised one-cent reduction in the city’s property tax rate, calling it progress and “real tax relief,” but critics say the change is too small to matter and could end up costing homeowners more.

On social media, the mayor and several City Council members cheered the tax cut in an online video.

“Baltimore. We’re here with the news you’ve been waiting for. We’re lowering property taxes,” the group shouted.

Later in the video, the mayor promised, “Because of that work, homeowners will see real tax relief.”

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The one-cent reduction is expected to save owners of a $200,000 home about $20 on their tax bills, while owners of a $500,000 home would save about $50.

To pay for the penny reduction, the City Council on Monday night gave final approval to increasing the cap on the Homestead Tax Credit, raising it from the current 4% to 5%. That means a larger portion of home values will become taxable each year.

“This is not going to be a game changer. This is not going to bring people back into the city to buy properties,” taxpayer advocate David Williams, who called it “a shell game”, said. “What they’re doing is cutting the property tax and raising the Homestead Tax Credit on the other hand, in the long run, it’s going to cost property owners more to live in the city.”

Economist Anirban Basu predicted the strategy will do little to prevent residents from moving out.

I think the city policymakers look at the residents of Baltimore and say ‘how can we extract the most money from them?’” Basu said.

He also questioned the timing, saying, “Have they not heard there’s so much inflation, food, gasoline, now people have to pay a higher tax burden to stay in their homes. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

The news prompted little applause on social media.

“The one-cent tax relief does not equal the 1% raise in the cap for anyone. I think it was intentionally done to mislead people,” one reader wrote.

Another asked, “Whose pocket is this tax hike going to be in?”