Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 2 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
that the only way to evaluate a property with absolute accuracy would be if it traded ' hands every year or two. Fairly determining the relative values of dissimilar properties that have not been on the market for decades is somewhat akin to guesswork. The value of a building or a piece of land is nowhere near as closely determined and accurately updated as the value of a stock share.
And the real estate tax poses problems for the body politic as well as for the individual taxpayer. Without going into the details, I think the record is clear that local governments’ need to rely on the real estate tax for the bulk of their revenues is a factor contributing to bad zoning decisions, urban sprawl and central city/inner suburb decay.
Prior to last year’s election, I wrote Candidate Gilmore (at his invitation) to suggest that in asking the electorate whether or not we “like the car tax” he was really asking us to debate the wrong question. The right question, I believe, is how most equitably to provide the revenues needed by local government in the 21st Century. I don’t know the answer —
87.7%