Cutting taxes won’t solve Baltimore’s problems

I read the recent letter to the editor from Steve Walters and was surprised to find an economist identifying such a simple yet irrelevant solution to the complex problems facing Baltimore (“Best fix for shrinking city is a tax cut,” April 4). After reading his opinion, I asked my wife if she would like to go to Baltimore next weekend. I asked my daughter if she would consider moving to Baltimore after graduation in May. Both responded with a clear “no.” I asked why. My wife said she is not interested in going to Baltimore due to the high crime. My daughter said she would not feel comfortable walking around in Baltimore in the evenings. I do not go to Baltimore to avoid being confronted by young people at intersections in a city with one of the highest violent crime rates. I asked them if they would reconsider visiting or living in Baltimore if the tax rate were reduced. They laughed at me.

While Walters has a doctorate in economics and I do not, I would think the property tax rate would be a simple calculation of the cost of governance divided by the cumulative property value taxed. To lower the property tax rate, you would need to reduce the cost of governance, have some other entity pay for the cost of governance, increase the value of properties or reduce the number of properties not subject to property tax. The simple solution to fix one or more of the variables in the equation, if Walters has one, should have been the focus of his letter and not simply saying we need to lower the tax rate.

The tax rate itself is somewhat irrelevant. I live in an area where I purchased a house where the cost is roughly 50% less than some other areas. The cost of governance is roughly the same per family. Therefore, my tax rate is twice what it is in the other areas. The reality is that my family pays roughly what a family in the other area pays in total and receive comparable services, but we have a higher rate that must be causing some terrible troubles for us.

I assume that the way Walters proposes to reduce the tax rate is to cut the cost of governance and the services provided to city residents. Baltimore has difficult issues that must be addressed with complex solutions. Simply cutting the tax rate would likely result in reduced services. More people would be driven from the city both as visitors and residents. Simply amending the city’s charter to require a competitive tax rate will result in the bankruptcy of the city and not magically fixing all the problems with lots of people moving in.

We need to stop talking about simple fixes that sound good but are not true solutions and focus on addressing the real problems of Baltimore.

Baltimore has difficult issues that must be addressed with complex solutions. Simply cutting the tax rate would likely result in reduced services.