The Tempest Over Taxes in Prince George's

Everyone’s talking about Prince George’s county executive Rushern Baker’s proposal to significantly raise local taxes to fund a proposed $133 million increase in the county school system’s budget. In a three-part series recently featured in the Washington Post, Capitol Heights attorney and community activist Bradley Heard discusses why such a tax increase is unwise—even for schools—and what the county should do if it really wants to boost revenues:

• Part 1 explains how Prince George’s County already bears the heaviest property tax burden of any suburban jurisdiction in the Washington metropolitan region, yet has the least to show for it. It also rebuts the principal rationale underlying the proposed tax increase: that increasing the school system’s budget is necessary to achieve a better school system.

• Part 2 explores how restoring public faith and trust in the county government will help foster more robust commercial investment and development in the county—thereby enabling it to bring in more revenue over the long term without raising taxes.

• Part 3 shows how and why investing in, revitalizing, and bringing transit-oriented development to the Metro station areas in the gateway neighborhoods that border the District of Columbia should be a critical component of Prince George’s economic development strategy.

Read these and other smart growth and good government articles in Prince George’s Urbanist.