Property taxes in New Jersey rose in 2020, the average bill topping $9000 for the first time.
The news comes as Democrats in Congress make a push to repeal the $10,000 cap on how much you can deduct in state and local taxes, enacted in 2017 under the Trump Administration.
Todd Metcalfe of Moody's said some economists say the SALT deduction itself is regressive, benefiting the rich more, but he is not one of them.
“What that argument neglects is that the cost of living is so much higher in that area (New York City and its suburbs), and so it's not as regressive in the New York City area as it would be in say, rural West Virginia.”
New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country. In Essex and Union counties, the average bill exceeded $12,000 last year.
Metcalfe said the increase in taxes, combined with the cap on how much homeowners can deduct in state and local taxes, is putting a damper on home prices. “It's less of a decline in outright home value, it's more of it's growing a lot slower than the rest of the country, than the United States as a whole,” he said.
He added, though, that home prices in some areas are actually being helped by the pandemic. “Because of the pandemic there's been huge increases in value in residential homes, in single-family homes, because there's a huge additional interest in them,” he said.