Quote Originally Posted by stinkytofu View Post
Makes sense. I was looking at a studio unit...only like 550 square feet or so.

I got curious and checked out current NEZ deal. Check out the long article below. Nothing seemingly locked in, but the city appears to be trying to figure out what to do. I actually went into city hall and asked a bunch of questions at the tax office.

https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/arti...hest_residents
That's a fascinating article, thanks for sharing. Although I thought one comment in the article was particularly ignorant:

"There’s enough demand in greater downtown that a new resident willing to pay Detroit’s full tax rate would likely take Morin’s place. Values, meanwhile, have climbed so high that, even if the expiring break forced him sell below market value, he would likely still profit."

Yeah, I lol'd a bit when I read that. I don't know what kind of demand whoever made this quote thinks exists in downtown Detroit, but that "Morin" guy would be looking at $12,000 in taxes on a $300k condo. There are dozens, if not hundreds of places in downtown/midtown priced significantly higher than that now. Watch people run right back to the suburbs when they're facing down a $20,000 or $25,000 property tax bill...I know I would, and I make well over 6 figures.

As far as I understand, the city had to jack the property tax way up, because none of the properties had any value...so like 10% on a $10,000 house is still only like $1,000 in revenue per year. But if the high rates are resulting in huge struggles for low income people, why not just set a "normal" rate? Yeah, your revenues are going to decrease short term, but you're also going to keep a lot more people in their homes, spend less on social welfare programs as a result, and still get higher income people to pay their fair share.