Americans for Prosperity Applauds Harford County Council for Property Tax Cut

Decision could spark larger tax relief effort in Maryland

ANNAPOLIS- Grassroots free-market group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) was happy to see the Harford County Council provide tax relief to the property owners of Harford County on Friday evening. By a unanimous vote, the Council decided to cut the proposed property tax rate.

“The Council members deserve praise,” said Dave Schwartz, state director of AFP-Maryland. “The Council realized that Harford citizens’ homes are not permanent piggy banks. Unlike many of our state and national legislators, they understand while taxpayers are trimming their budgets during the recession, the government needs to do the same.”

AFP worked extensively with the “Harford Property Tax Revolt” coalition to push for the Council and County Executive David Craig to adopt the “constant yield” property tax rate. “Constant yield” is the rate at which the county government would have collected the same amount of taxes as the previous fiscal year.

“We hope that this tax cut is the beginning of a larger tax relief effort in Harford County. While County Executive Craig deserves credit for a slimmer budget and the Council deserves credit for cutting the rate, we would like to see the county go further in FY 2011.”

AFP is a national organization with state-based chapters committed to educating citizens about the benefits of living in a society with a limited government and a free market, and mobilizing those citizens to become advocates in the public policy process.

AFP-Maryland has over 5,000 members statewide and recently started a local chapter in Harford County.