It is no secret that many communities use property tax assessments and re-assessments as a way to hike taxes. Here in Fairfax County Virginia, the county tax assessors have raised taxes an average of 16.9% over the past three years. This year they are hiking taxes only 10% and telling people "at least it's not 16.9%". In most communities, however, the property owner always has an avenue for appeal. Well, that may change in Anchorage.

Appeals cost the city money, and according to the Anchorage Daily News, an article that reader Tom Scott dutifully points out, city officials want to nip property tax appeals in the bud before they happen. They want to do this by simply charging people an up front fee for having their day in court. How ingenious.

The city wants to add fees and tighten up the process people use to challenge what the tax assessor says their property is worth.

This is expected to reduce the number of appeals and help the city catch up on its backlog of open cases.

But, according to critics, it will unreasonably increase the burden on property owners who question their tax assessment, intimidate people out of appealing and reduce citizen oversight of the assessor's office. [...]

The city wants to start charging between $30 and $1,000, depending on property value, to file an appeal.

Tom Scott asks "What's next? A fee for appealing a speeding ticket?". The word 'appeal' makes it sound as if they've already been through the legal system before. This is more like the court charging you for even fighting a speeding ticket in the first place. Imagine getting pulled over for speeding, and issued a $100 ticket. You show up in court, and they tell you that since you own a Mercedes, it'll cost you a $1000 up front to fight the ticket in court. Had you owned a Kia, it would only be $100, but since you drive a nice car and have a lot of money, it's going to cost more. Don't worry though, if you win, you get the money back. This is just to stem the tide of all of those whiny citizens that actually want to have their day in court rather than just submitting themselves to the actions of the executive branch.