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In our recent letters to the Lake Oswego City Council (found here and here), HBA opposed the city’s proposed $15,000 demolition tax on single family homes and duplexes. The Council will consider the tax at its upcoming December 3rd meeting. Most concerning is the egregiously anti-housing nature of the proposed tax, as highlighted by a recent Wall Street Journal article. The tax raises a financial barrier against the implementation of House Bill 2001 - which encourages duplexes, triplexes and quads - and will lower existing property values and raise new home prices in the city. Moreover, this fundamentally arbitrary tax is an inappropriate and unjustified way to raise revenue for parks maintenance given there is no link between redevelopment and parks use. Rather, the inequitable tax saddles existing homeowners and new homebuyers with the costs of parks maintenance, which is a city-wide public service. HBA strongly encourages the city to consider a parks maintenance utility fee or option levy that would distribute the burden for parks upkeep across all those who use parks, such as Tigard, West Linn, Hillsboro and Corvallis have done. To join HBA in opposing the demolition tax, contact Roseann Johnson at roseannj@hbapdx.org. Next Article Previous Article