Owners of second homes pay taxes, too — who’s to say what makes their share “fair”?

To the Editor:
David Zuckerman’s letter in the Deerfield Valley News October 30 edition concerning property taxes and second-home owners is, at the very least, confusing. In the first paragraph he’s talking about income and that less wealthy people pay a greater proportion of their income (through their property taxes I assume?) for Vermont’s education expenses. Well, that is true about everything. Rich people pay a smaller percentage of their income on food, on cars, on vacations, etc., than less wealthy people. What exactly is his point? People (both first- and second-home owners) pay property taxes based on the fair value of the property they own. A certain portion of that property tax (the majority) goes for Vermont’s educational expenses and a certain portion of that property tax pays for essential services like roads, fire, and police services. I guess one could make the general statement that richer people live in more valuable houses than less wealthy people and therefore pay higher property taxes. It would be pretty hard for cities and towns to additionally take into account a homeowner’s income and charge an additional amount if they are rich but live in a modest house. The exception to that is income sensitivity for less wealthy people on the education portion of their property taxes. If Mr. Zuckerman is talking about the homestead rate versus the non-homestead rate, I would like to mention that while it is true that in 74 towns in Vermont the non-­homestead property owner pays a lower rate, in 186 towns the non-­homestead property owner pays a higher rate. That is because of Vermont’s somewhat complicated formula for the education tax portion of one’s property tax bill. Overall, homestead and non-­homestead property owners in Vermont pay the same rate for Vermont’s educational expenses yet non-­homestead owners send no children to Vermont schools. It’s very hard to see how second-home owners are not paying their “fair share.”
Mickey Nowak
Second-home owner
Wardsboro