Now that Sussex County has replaced the 50-year-old paper maps of the county, when will we recognize that it is time to replace the 43-year-old property assessments?
It is unconscionable that we base our county and school tax payments on 1974 valuations, when property values - land values - have risen at such different rates in the intervening years. Eastern Sussex County's values have soared, while inland properties have appreciated more slowly, which means that our tax burden is very unevenly - and unjustly - distributed.
Connecticut requires revaluations every five years, down from "once per decade" (and 1991 and 2009 were construed to meet that old rule); Maryland requires revaluations every three years.
Valuing land well is not all that difficult or expensive. Valuing buildings and other improvements accurately is more difficult, and it is invasive.
Wise tax policy would be to replace the conventional property tax with a tax based only on the value of the land. Land's value supplies a fine source of natural public revenue, a good way to finance all the goods and services which maintain and increase our land value.
People as diverse as William F. Buckley and Michael Kinsley have endorsed the ideas behind this approach. And while we're at it, annual payments ought to be replaced with monthly bills, which conform better to residents' income flows.
Let's move into the 21st century.
Wyn Achenbaum
Rehoboth Beach
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