Mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan to increase taxes on commercial property to build new affordable housing has passed the D.C. Council, despite opposition from the development community and the council chairman.
The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the $15.5B budget for the next fiscal year, making some changes to Bowser’s funding proposal. The approved plan increases the funding for multiple affordable housing programs based on tax increases on commercial real estate properties and transactions that are expected to generate $114M in revenue, the Washington Business Journal reports.
Several developers at Bisnow’s D.C. State of the Market this month criticized the city’s leaders for the tax increases, which they said unfairly punished the real estate industry and would likely be passed onto small businesses. D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson said he opposed the tax hikes but did not expect the rest of the council to agree with him.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jon Banister over at Bis Now