No one likes to pay taxes – let alone more taxes than you should. As a member of the House, Delegate Doyle Niemann has taken the lead in trying to help people pay less.
Doyle voted to lower the state property tax, which is used to pay for state building projects. He has supported a variety of measures to reduce property taxes for seniors and those on fixed incomes and has actively promoted tax cap programs.
In 2008, he introduced legislation to require the state to notify potentially qualifying taxpayers that they might be eligible for the Homeowners Property Tax Credit Program, which puts a cap on what a homeowner has to pay based on income.
This year, Doyle began by showing people how to understand how the property tax is calculated. This is based on the assessed value of the property, but in the wake of the real estate boom and bust of the last few years, many assessment are too high. That can be true even if the assessment has been lowered.
“People always have a right to appeal their assessment,” Doyle says. “When the assessment first comes out, that is an automatic right, but even later, homeowners can appeal and get the assessment lower for the next year. They need to know about that right.”
Doyle’s Factsheet on Assessments »
In 2010, Doyle learned that the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) was not giving homeowners any “Homestead Credit.” This is a credit that limits how much of the assessed value of a house can actually be used to calculate the property tax each year. It is designed to protect homeowners from rapid increases like those of recent years.
The potential amount of the Homestead Credit increases the longer you live in your house and the more the value rises. It can make a substantial difference in the tax bill. The fact that MNCPPC was not using it meant that homeowners were paying more park and planning tax than they should
Doyle introduced legislation in the House in 2010 to fix this. After much wrangling, a version of the bill was passed and signed into law by the Governor. You will see the results in the tax bill that went out sometime around July 1st. If you live in and own your own home, there will be a number near the bottom of the form that tells you how much you are saving in property taxes because you are now getting that credit.