Prometheus 6

Professor Kim dropped this one, and I was checking out the organization that are looking into it.

Quote of note:

the Star-Ledger analysis found a number of predominantly black neighborhoods in New Jersey where homeowners are paying similar taxes as homeowners in white neighborhoods, even though there is a wide gap in home values.

In the dozen towns where the disparity is greatest, blacks are four times as likely to live in neighborhoods where home values are overassessed by at least 5 percent than they are to live in neighborhoods underassessed by 5 percent or more.

Whites, meanwhile, are nearly twice as likely to live in sections of town where assessments are too low.

In Montclair, where nearly three quarters of black homeowners -- but only 1 in 5 white homeowners -- live in overassessed neighborhoods, long-time residents such as George Ryder say anger and frustration is growing.

And there's more.

Racial disparity in property taxes stirs calls for action
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
BY ROBERT GEBELOFF
Star-Ledger Staff
At least two fair housing advocates said yesterday they will begin researching whether New Jersey's property tax system violates the civil rights of black homeowners in towns where taxes are levied based on outdated tax rolls.

The Star-Ledger reported Sunday that thousands of homeowners in diverse neighborhoods in Essex, Middlesex and Union counties are paying municipal property taxes at a higher rate than neighbors in predominantly white neighborhoods.

"We're deeply concerned by what's been reported," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the state American Civil Liberties Union.

The situation is most acute in towns where property tax rolls have not been updated in years, and home prices have appreciated the slowest in the sections of town with the greatest black population.

In the late 1990s, the ACLU successfully pressured Nassau County, N.Y., to update its tax roll for the first time in 60 years after a court challenge that eventually drew in the state attorney general and the U.S. Justice Department as allies.

Jacobs has directed her legal staff to research whether a similar case is warranted here.
"We've consulted with our ACLU office in New York about the legal strategy and are very interested in hearing from anyone who feels they have been affected by this in New Jersey," she said.

Ken Zimmerman, a former lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division who now heads the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said he would also examine the situation.

"This raises a matter of serious concern that needs to be looked into further," he said, "even if the disparity happened inadvertently."

While the Nassau County case raised many of the issues that could be raised in New Jersey if homeowners challenge the fairness of the tax system, the situations are not directly comparable, Zimmerman said.

For one, the Nassau County case involved one taxing authority -- the county -- along a specific policy that tied assessments to 1938 values.

In New Jersey, there are many levels of government that have some responsibility, from the towns that actually do the assessments, to the county tax boards that oversee the towns, to the state officials who supervise the entire system.

What's more, Zimmerman said, the problem with New Jersey's system has more to do with enforcement issues rather than the rules.

"As opposed to an explicit policy that gave rise to the disparity in Nassau, instead what we have is the failure to implement regular revaluations," he said. "That doesn't necessarily mean it justifies the current policy in New Jersey, but it's definitely an issue that would have to be evaluated."

The Nassau case was initiated by homeowners in heavily minority neighborhoods who felt they were paying taxes based on an assessment system that bore little resemblance to reality.

Likewise, the Star-Ledger analysis found a number of predominantly black neighborhoods in New Jersey where homeowners are paying similar taxes as homeowners in white neighborhoods, even though there is a wide gap in home values.

In the dozen towns where the disparity is greatest, blacks are four times as likely to live in neighborhoods where home values are overassessed by at least 5 percent than they are to live in neighborhoods underassessed by 5 percent or more.

Whites, meanwhile, are nearly twice as likely to live in sections of town where assessments are too low.

In Montclair, where nearly three quarters of black homeowners -- but only 1 in 5 white homeowners -- live in overassessed neighborhoods, long-time residents such as George Ryder say anger and frustration is growing.

While the Essex County Tax board recently ordered a revaluation -- the first tax roll update in more than 15 years -- it won't go on the books until 2007.

"If we're paying more than our fair share," Ryder said, "we're paying for our wealthier neighbors to enjoy living in Montclair."

"Certainly, we don't like the feeling that African-Americans in this part of town are being told they have to pay twice as much as anybody else for the right to live in good old Montclair, which prides itself on its diversity," said Ryder, who lives in the predominantly black south end of town.

David Herron, who heads the Montclair branch of the NAACP, said he would raise the issue of whether south end residents should be compensated for all the years of overpaying taxes.

"Fixing the system is good," he said. "But it doesn't remediate the harm. How do we compensate the people who've been paying 25 or 50 percent more in taxes than they should have?"