Property owners in Wayne County may pay the highest effective tax rates in the state, but they will be asked to pay more this November.

On the ballot will be a proposed new property tax aimed at raising money for regional transit and public schools. Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Mozena explained in an op-ed published in The Detroit News that, “For potential homebuyers or commercial property owners, it’s hard to make the argument that what we get in Wayne County is worth the additional cost.”

All told, Wayne County and municipalities for which it collects taxes brought in more than $2 billion in property taxes in 2015. This is the burden to which the RTA and Wayne RESA proposals would add, raising a 55.11 mill average property tax rate to something in the vicinity of 58.3 mills and making Wayne County even less affordable when compared to the rest of the state.

Mozena owns a home in Wayne County, where his son also attends public school, and noted moving slightly northeast or northwest would lower his cost of living without lowering his quality of life.

Read the full op-ed in The Detroit News.

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