"View tax" meeting in Durham

[KBCraig]

Smaller crowd than Lancaster, but just as fervent.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Majority+of+small+crowd+opposes+%27view+tax%27&articleId=0ede9498-80b3-4838-8bd9-923ff262d536

Majority of small crowd opposes 'view tax'

By CLYNTON NAMUO
Union Leader Correspondent

DURHAM ? Only about 30 people showed for a meeting on tax assessments last night at Oyster River high School, far short of the 150 on hand at a meeting in Lancaster last week.

Though turnout was meager, there was no shortage of people opposing the so-called "view tax" last night with more than 10 people speaking out against it and, in many cases, against the entire assessing process.

While representatives of the state Department of Revenue Administration stressed that they try and make assessments as equitable as possible, it often fell upon deaf ears.

"Assessors do not create value," property tax adviser Robert Boley said last night.

The view tax is how much value is added to a home based upon the view it offers and is factored into the market value of properties, Boley said.

But some at last night's meeting, including State House Speaker Douglas Scaman, of Stratham, said that determining the value of a view is often arbitrary.

"It's subjective," he said. "There are concrete ways of doing appraising. Why do you have a view tax on a farm building?"

Examples of rural properties assessed high view taxes on rundown old properties were rampant last night.

Many of those who spoke out against the view tax either owned their property for decades or had inherited it and complained that the taxes they now pay far outstrip what their home was purchased for.

Others had problems with the entire assessment system and said that like any people, assessors make mistakes and it is taxpayers who must carry the burden.

Thomas Thomson, the lone member of the public on the assessing standards board, said it is often the elderly who suffer when mistakes are made because they are unable to catch them.

Thomson, who owns the Thomson Family Tree Farm in Orford, also said the view tax must be changed and said it is the prime reason people are turning out for these public meetings.

"If the view tax wasn't an issue, this meeting in Durham would've had two people," he said.