A taxing situation

10% increase in Boston residential property taxes, ayup.

Of course, that's just an average. While the taxes on our humble Colonial in Roslindale will go down about 8% (must be the "semi-modern" bathroom the city thinks we have), Kevin McCrea says the taxes on the properties he owns in the South End and Roxbury are going up between 17 and 30 percent:

... Unfortunately, I and most other residents of the city can't just vote ourselves 17 percent raises in back room deals. ...

Seth Gitell, former Menino spokesman, blames an antiquated holdover from the days when the Yankee elite wanted to stick it to the Irish in Boston:

... Boston is handcuffed by an archaic system of finance that prevents it from raising revenues on its own. Dating back to the days when the Yankees who controlled the State House instituted tough measures as a block on urban Irish power, these rules provide the city only a handful of mechanisms to raise funds, namely property tax, which everybody admits is clumsy and often unfair. Under this outdated structure, it's up to the state to return the funds to the city, which only gets back one dollar for every six it sends to Beacon Hill, in the form of local aid. This was an attempt to suppress James Michael Curley ...