Unsightly uncared-for Atlanta properties are not only an eye sore. Atlanta is hoping to make them a source of revenue. “City leaders are expected to slap a blight tax on property owners who neglect their homes and apartment buildings.”
As reported, Mayor Andre Dickens and District 3 Councilman Byron Amos collaborated on what is known as “the blight tax.” Reporting asserts that “Dilapidated and neglected homes have been a huge problem in Atlanta.” Councilman Amos optimistically asserts “the passage of this legislation will soon change that. With only one council member objecting, an aggressive new law targeting negligent property owners has passed.”
Dickens and Amos frame the issue in terms of abusive investors and corporations “that abandon real estate and reduce our quality of life.” District 3 Councilman Amos said. “Blighted homes in the city of Atlanta, along with blighted commercial properties is a huge issue. It deteriorates the quality of life, and it brings down property values. So, we have created a tool that can helpfully help us fight this battle.”
Details of the Blight Tax disclose that the city may “apply 25 times the average tax on a property that has gone through a process to determine whether the city deems the to be blighted.” Consistent with Due Process, the owner will be “given the opportunity to bring that property up to code.”
Amos’ target is not poor people. “We are looking at uninhabited properties. So, we are not talking about the grandmothers, the individuals that have fallen on hard times. We want to help you. This piece of legislation is looking at, first and foremost, commercial properties, uninhabitable properties that we all know have been sitting in our neighborhood, destroying the fabric and quality of life.” Amos added: “This tax is to offer some encouragement to these properties owners to do something better with their property.”
