EPISODE INFO
HOST: Jennifer Smith
GUEST: Greg Maynard, the Boston Policy Institute
AMERICA MIGHT RUN on Dunkin’, but Boston runs on property taxes. Some 70 percent of the city’s $4.8 billion operating budget depends on levies from residential and commercial properties, which means pandemic-era shifts in work patterns have pushed the burden away from the downtown towers and toward homeowners.
While this broader workplace and commercial value change is not Mayor Michelle Wu’s doing, her critics argue that a second consecutive double-digit residential tax hike should not be used to ramp up pressure on a struggling commercial sector. Beyond that, they say, the city sat on its potential 2026 tax rate numbers until late in the year when lawmakers were out of formal session.
Wu announced last week that the city expected residential property taxes to rise 13 percent while the commercial sector could expect an average 4.4. percent drop next year. Since the Boston City Council must vote on Wednesday to approve the new tax rates, she coupled the announcement with a plea for lawmakers and business groups to back Boston’s plan, withering on Beacon Hill, that would shift the property tax burden away from residents and cap the annual increase at 9 percent…