You article is enlightening. Could you possible figure out where the township of Lodi,NJ would fall into as it relates to the property tax ladder?

Lodi is a small township(25,000) with a pretty low per capita income. The property taxes are around 7500-8000 for a home assessed at $280,000.

If you are not able to provide this information, perhaps you can direct me as to where I might find it.

Thanks,
Joe Vitale

Working in Kentucky, I am concerned not only by the sizable charitable, governmental and religious exemptions but by the enormity of global corporate and local developer exemptions which are plaguing the south.

These arrangements are phrased as "benefit" exemptions ("This will bring jobs") yet often, they don't result in jobs...or do not bring enough jobs to offset the damage the development does to the environmental, infrastructure and (job-prodcing) small businesses. The exemptions are in terms of the global corporations also a failure to assert sovereignty.

Yet they are not mentioned in this text. Is New Jersey free of sch exemptions?

The article is barking up the wrong tree when it looks to rebalancing property taxes based on proportion of tax exempt property. Tax exemption of schools, churches and government buildings has been a constant throughout our history. The other is making interesting observations but isn't dealing directly with cause and effect and is thereby misleading the reader into a line of thought that would be wildly speculative in terms of social benefit.

The more direct areas of property tax reform are in school desegregation and financing, road construction, and methods of property valuation.

Thanks for the report target PILOT.

I live and work in the Old Trenton Neighborhood (OTN) which, as is most of New Jersey's capital, the target of "revitalization."

From my point of view, it is unethical and not good economic policy to give so many tax subsidies to developers who do not create the promised local jobs for local folks.

Many promises are made about the ecomonic opportunities surrounding urban redevelopment, but none seem to deliver.

The only thing delivered is tax breaks for the developer, money in the political campaign coffers, and more concentration of poverty and strained community services (broken opportunity structures).

Let us work together to produce more equitable and community-benefits policies and practices.

Tim Razzaq, Founder
Building Open Opportunity Structures Togetther (BOOST)
(609) 695-1401

The article was very informative. I live in New Brunswick and am more than curious on how developers obtain tax abatements for luxury housing--by what criteria, how are payments in lieu of taxes determined, etc. I would like to learn of the number and type of new construction receiving abatements. Advice on how to obtain this information would be appreciated.

Excellent and thorough. Makes one see there is more to be done. Citizens groups will soon be feeling the crunch of tax burden. This information needs to be disseminated!!