Several dozen Rhode Island homeowners aggrieved by the “Taylor Swift tax” are channeling its eponymous songwriter by saying to the state in a lawsuit, “Look What You Made Me Do.”
A lawsuit filed Aug. 19 in Newport Superior Court seeks to invalidate the state’s new “Non-Owner Occupied Property Tax.” Having gone into effect July 1, the tax levies a penalty of $2.50 per every $500 of a non-primary home’s assessed value of more than $1 million. The state tax is in addition to any residential property taxes owners already pay to their municipality.
Properties that are rented — either long- or short-term — are exempt from the tax if they were occupied at least 183 days of the previous tax year…