Senate President Proposes 'Mansion Tax'

Every homeowner has to pay property taxes, but the amount varies from town to town. One lawmaker wants to change that with a statewide property tax on homes valued at more than $430,000. He calls it a mansion tax.

“The only positive thing about the property tax -- which most people find regressive and burdensome because it’s not tied to income or capacity to pay it’s just tied to homeownership -- it’s that at least it’s a reliable source of revenue,” Senate President Martin Looney said.

Looney wants to increase the property tax by one mill on every home valued at $430,000 or more. His proposal would redistribute the money back to some cities and towns that are struggling.

“It would generate at that one mill, at that level $73.5 million,” Looney said.

Looney sees it as a solution to inequality.

“You have a disparity in Connecticut where Hartford has a mill rate of 74 and Greenwich a mill rate of 11 and everything in between that Greenwich raises $30 million on a single mill other communities raise only a modest amount of $100,000 or so,” Looney said..

Read more: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/senate-president-proposes-mansion-tax/2409038/