A Tax Exemption Would Be Good, but a Lower Tax Rate Would Be Better

The proposed increase in tax exemptions for low-income senior citizens paying property taxes in the City of Geneva is a good idea, but we should be clear that it is only a band-aid on the open wound of high taxes. City residents must shoulder an increasingly unbearable tax burden. And we must be careful not to feel free to go ahead with further tax increases once the most vulnerable are partially sheltered from their effects.

The City currently offers a partial tax exemption for senior citizens whose annual household income is under $15,200. At that level, there is a 20% reduction in their property assessment. Here is how it works. A senior couple living in a house assessed at $100,000 would normally pay $1822 in city taxes. If their total household income is $15,200, they would only have to pay taxes on 80% of their assessed value, or $80,000. Their tax bill would be reduced to $1458. That represents a savings of $364—money put back into their household budget that could be put toward groceries or prescriptions.

NYS tax law provides for “sliding scale limits,” ranging from the minimum of 20% to a maximum of 50%. Under Geneva’s current tax ordinance, the maximum exemption is only available to senior households with incomes of $9,500 or less. Ontario County and other municipalities are responding to the realities of rising costs and fairly stagnant income sources (such as social security) by raising those limits. That is the ordinance coming before council Wednesday night.

The proposed schedule would raise the base income (the income qualifying for a 50% exemption) to $12,500 and set the ceiling (the income qualifying for a 20% exemption) at $18,200. Here is the full proposal:

Sliding Scale Limits Current Proposed
50% $9,500 $12,500
45% $10,500 $13,500
40% $11,500 $14,500
35% $12,500 $15,500
30% $13,400 $16,400
25% $14,300 $17,300
20% $15,200 $18,200

Currently, $29,535 in property tax revenue is exempted, the new proposal bumps that figure up to $62,404. The difference, $32,969, will have to be made up elsewhere in the budget. It should not come through further increases in the property tax, whether it's being paid on 100% or 10% of a resident's assessed value!

The senior tax exemption is something that Geneva needs, but it shouldn’t be hailed as a cure-all for the senior living on a fixed income. After all, people wouldn’t be forced to seek exemptions if taxes stayed at a manageable rate.