GOVERNMENT: Tax study puts Niagara in second place

Local News

September 12, 2007

Study puts Niagara in second place for highest taxed

By Jill Terreri/terrerij@gnnewspaper.com The Niagara Gazette Wed Sep 12, 2007, 09:25 PM EDT

This time Niagara County is No. 2.

The much talked about study that was published last year by a Washington, D.C.-think tank has been updated with new figures. It puts Niagara County in the second spot for the highest taxed large county in the country when taxes are measured against home values.

Niagara County was replaced by Wayne County, east of Rochester, at the top of the list.

What’s clear is that the highest taxes can be found in the Northeast, specifically in New York and New Jersey.

The results of the 2006 survey, which were published Wednesday, are very much the same as the results of the 2005 study, published last year, according to economist Gerald Prante of the Tax Foundation.

“Pretty much the same story,” Prante said. “Western New York is the highest across the country.”

The foundation uses data collected yearly from counties with populations over 65,000 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The list of the top 10 counties with the highest taxes compared to home values were exclusively in New York, except for No. 5, which was Fort Bend County, Tex., a Houston suburb.

After Niagara, Monroe County came in third, down one spot from last year; Erie County is fourth.

Chautauqua, Onondaga, Cayuga, Chemung and Schenectady counties round out the rest of the list.

In Niagara County, homeowners’ tax bills are 2.91 percent of the county’s median home value, just three-hundredths of a percent less than in Wayne County.

Regardless of sampling errors, Niagara County is in the top 10, Prante said.

The rankings take into account all real estate taxes paid, including special assessments and school taxes.

Topping another list the foundation compiled, one that ranks the counties where the highest median real estate taxes are paid, are counties in New York and New Jersey.

With a median bill of $7,999, homeowners in Hunterdon County, N.J., paid the highest real estate taxes in 2006.

Nassau County came in at No. 2, followed by Westchester, Somerset County, N.J., and Bergen County, N.J.

Seven New Jersey counties and three New York counties were on that list.

Education spending in New York and New Jersey is very high compared to other states, which contributes to the county’s placement in the rankings, Prante said.

The foundation publishes the study to educate the public, not to advocate a certain policy. It does not see property taxes as a bad tax compared to other kinds of taxes, Prante said.

Legislature Chairman Clyde Burmaster, R-Ransomville, dismissed the report and said he believed the county’s Center for Economic Development is working hard to stimulate economic activity.

“I don’t hold much faith in them,” he said of private-sector reports.

Burmaster pointed to a conference now in progress that has attracted 30 people from around the world to Erie and Niagara counties to examine local development opportunities.

Explore Buffalo-Niagara will bring representatives from eight countries to Niagara County today.

Tax Foundation researchers stand by their analysis, saying the data collected by the Census bureau through its American Community Survey is the same data the federal government uses to distribute grants and aid.

“Arguments that this ACS data is unreliable because it is based on inaccurate household survey data would be an argument against almost the entire federal government’s appropriation methodology, especially the $300 billion that is appropriated annually using ACS data,” the report states. “In other words, the data is solid.”

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