Reply to Why does Montgomery County Subsidize Taxes for Country Clubs?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]No, it is not that simple. Commercial buildings, apartment buildings, condos, and home cost money, in terms of more congestion, roads, schools, public safety. Why did some object to Amazon bid for White Flint, because Amazon would bring more people, demanding more everything. While more people pay taxes, those taxes may not offset the added burden on govt. So, yes, golf courses and other open spaces reduce demand for govt expenditures on everything (ie, save govt money). More importantly, open spaces provide real tangible environmental benefits. One maintenance guy complained to me yesterday that the recent record rainfall has overwhelmed many county drainage systems. Stormwater is a real issue in urban areas. Why do you think pervious paving materials are favored over impervious driveways? Turning open spaces into buildings, houses and roads only worsens issue, costing money to solve. So, yes, open spaces reduce burdens on govt resources and offer real environmental benefits. Whether economic value of reduced burden and environmental benefits is less or more than tax breaks is hard to judge, obviously. But, on your theory, lets go after religious organizations, educational institutions, other nonprofits who also get tax breaks and who provide other benefits, but not those. So, saying everyone's taxes are incrementally higher is rather than simple minded. Yes, county has a very high tax burden, not because of golf courses, but because of its leadership, both current and past. County total tax burden is absurd and is higher than neighboring jurisdictions, including next door in Washington, DC. A mentality to tax, tax, tax will only continue to drive residents away. County has fallen behind its neighbors, dramatically. A tax tax perspective will not help. [/quote]

This is an excellent post. [/quote]

+1. [/quote]

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