Two weeks ago, we wrote about a proposal to give a 100 percent, $700,000 per year property tax break to one company ‘ CoStar ‘ if it moves to downtown DC office space. This bill is still alive and could be voted on by the DC Council next Tuesday, December 15.
At a time when the District faces a $300 million budget shortfall for the coming year, it just doesn’t make sense to take some of DC’s most valuable real estate off the tax rolls.
You can help speak out against this questionable tax break! The DC Fiscal Policy Institute has drafted a sign-on letter that will be shared with the DC Council and Mayor Fenty before next Tuesday’s vote. To sign on, send an email today to lazere@dcfpi.org. List your name, organization (if relevant), and Ward.
What’s wrong with this bill?
Downtown Does Not Need Tax breaks: DC has the second lowest office vacancy rate in the U.S. and is one of few markets where office rents are rising.
CoStar Will Not Help DC’s Eeconomy: The bill does not require CoStar to hire new DC residents ‘ they only have to move existing workers. And moving one company will not change DC’s downtown already — strong downtown office climate
CoStar tax breaks will make DC’s budget shortfall even larger Adding new tax breaks could force even more budget cuts.
