It's hardly surprising to find yet another city official joining the list of police commanders, city council members, the court clerk, even the mayor's husband "accidentally" living in more than one house and shirking property taxes ("Hundreds of city homeowners lose invalid tax breaks," Jan. 19).
This latest in an ongoing series of revelations points to the need for an overhaul of our property tax system.
Our property tax rates are so high, virtually nothing gets built without tax abatement, and if you're a developer in need of tax breaks, you better pay to play. The major obstacle to reform isn't a temporary loss of revenue to the city, which would quickly be made up by growth in jobs and population, but rather the loss of revenue for City Hall insiders.
Mark Counselman, Baltimore