Hunterdon County, N.J., Has Highest Taxes
Residents of New Jersey’s Hunterdon County pay the highest property taxes in the U.S., according to the Tax Foundation.
The annual median property tax in Hunterdon, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Manhattan near the Delaware River, was $8,216, a report issued today by the Washington-based organization shows. Suburban Westchester and Nassau counties, both bordering New York City, ranked second and third, respectively, at $8,206 and $8,160.
“The only source of revenue to pay for a broad spectrum of services in New Jersey is the property tax,” said William Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. “The property tax in many states is not the dominant source of revenue for local services.”
Hunterdon County's seat is Flemington, whose courthouse was the site of the 1935 trial and conviction of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for kidnapping and murdering aviator Charles Lindbergh’s baby son in 1932.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has made a 2 percent cap the centerpiece of his plan to control growth in New Jersey’s property taxes, which averaged $7,576 last year. Real estate levies, the main source of funding for schools and towns, have climbed 70 percent in the past decade.
Cuomo Cap Plan
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo urged residents to pressure lawmakers to approve a property tax cap when he kicked off a statewide tour May 10. Cuomo’s proposal would set a limit of 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.
The Bethel Census Area in Alaska had the lowest ranking, with taxes of $105 a year, according to the data.
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group that advocates for “sound tax policy,” compiled the rankings based on U.S. Census data for 2,922 counties from the American Community Survey. The survey uses a five-year average from 2005 to 2009.
To contact the reporter on this story: Darrell Preston in Dallas at dpreston@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
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