The Connecticut General Assembly Planning & Development Committee has scheduled another public hearing Monday, March 22 at 10:00am (via zoom or YouTube live) on a series of bills including SB1068*, “AN ACT CONCERNING PROPERTY TAXES AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING.”
The bill, introduced by Connecticut Democrats, proposes a sliding scale additional municipal property tax assessment on towns not meeting the Connecticut General Statutes 8-30g mandate (the affordable housing statute) of 10% affordable housing.
The assessment applies to residential and commercial properties with assessed value greater than $300,000 (Assessed value is 70% of market value), or a market value of more than $430,000, which would likely impact almost every property in Greenwich.
The tax would be in addition to the annual property taxes that homeowners pay to the town.
The tax ranges from 2mills for towns having less than 2% affordable units to .4mills for those having more than 8%.
For a municipality having more than 6% but less than 8%, the tax would be 8/10 of 1mill.
Greenwich has hovered around 5% for many years.
Stamford has well exceeded the required 10%.
SB1068 does not address where the funds would go or how they would be utilized.
Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, does not support the “mansion tax,” and was quoted in the Hartford Courant describing homes with a market value of $430,000 as “middle class houses.”
According to the Courant, the proposed statewide property tax on homes valued at $430,000 or higher would be largely paid by homeowners along Connecticut’s Gold Coast, with Greenwich accounting for more than 25% of all the new revenue.
According to NPR, Governor Lamont said he would not back the new tax and he does not think the bill was going anywhere.
One mill equals $1 in taxes for each $1,000 assessed value. To calculate your property tax bill, multiply its property’s assessed value by the town’s mill rate and divide by 1,000.
Written testimony is due on Sunday.
Click here for agenda:
*Statement of Purpose: To require each municipality to impose an assessment rate, in addition to that provided for under chapter 204 of the general statutes, on all residential real property in such municipality depending on the amount of certain affordable housing in such municipality.