Prince William County, Virginia, is the epicenter of the Washington, D.C. area's housing bubble crisis, with some foreclosed properties currently listed at more than 60% below what they sold for just a couple of years ago. According to the Washington Post, the default rate for mortgages in the county in February was a staggering 5.5% of all homes.And yet, in an astonishing act of cluelessness the Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted this week to INCREASE the county's property tax rate by 27%. So, if your house is assessed at $250,000, you'll pay an additional $675 a year in taxes.
No one is disputing that the county is in deep financial trouble, but how can the supervisors possibly believe that pushing even more struggling homeowners into foreclosure is going to help? There is only one solution for the county, cut services. Your constituents are clearly maxed out, and if enough of them end up defaulting because of this additional monetary burden, the result could be even LESS tax revenue.
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