Letter: Here's the truth about Barrington's senior tax exemption

Posted 11/8/17

To the editor:

The town continues to "spin" rationalizations for eliminating the senior flat exemption.

First, the town has now stated that "income verification is standard practice in …

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Letter: Here's the truth about Barrington's senior tax exemption

Posted

To the editor:

The town continues to "spin" rationalizations for eliminating the senior flat exemption.

First, the town has now stated that "income verification is standard practice in towns throughout Rhode Island ..." That is untrue.  

Of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns, 27 (i.e., 70 percent) have a flat exemption for seniors, with no income qualification or verification (Barrington, Bristol, Central Falls, Coventry, Cranston, Cumberland, East Greenwich, East Providence, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Johnston, Lincoln, Middletown, Narragansett, North Kingstown, North Providence, North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Portsmouth, Providence, Scituate, Smithfield, Warren, Warwick, West Greenwich and West Warwick).  

Only 12 communities (i.e., 30 percent) do not (Burrillville, Charlestown, Hopkinton, Jamestown, Little Compton, New Shoreham, Newport, Richmond, Tiverton, South Kingstown, Westerly and Woonsocket).  

The last time I looked, a mere 30 percent of anything does not constitute "standard practice." Furthermore, the no-income-qualification senior exemptions in other communities are as large as a tax rebate of $3,856 — more than 10 times Barrington's — which makes Barrington look miserly by comparison, as it is.  

Can someone please explain why the creators of this new mess are determined to make Barrington a renegade in Rhode Island on the issue of massive financial disclosure for flat exemptions (with all the accompanying personal security dangers outlined in my first letter)?

Second, the town has come up with the new charade that it must have complete financial information because "the tax assessor is audited and needs to demonstrate that exemptions are not granted to non-qualified residents."  

That is a red herring the size of a whale.  

The charade falls apart immediately because, as the department of revenue and the Barrington tax assessor both have confirmed repeatedly, the income qualification for the $368 credit is "NONE", and therefore there would be nothing for an auditor to audit (except perhaps the age of the applicant — which is why many communities merely require a driver's license to be presented, in support of a flat exemption application).  

Beyond that, even though I do not have access to either the accountants' work-papers or the audited financials over the years, I would be willing to bet the farm that at no time in the past 40-plus years have the auditors' audit programs ever even asked to look at any documentation for the $368 credits that the town issued.  

And similarly, I would be willing to bet that the town's audited financials have never contained a footnote or qualification about any weakness in the town's books because it lacked individual tax returns to support the $368 credits. 

If I am wrong about either of those things, I would strongly encourage the backers of this ill-advised and unseemly assault on seniors to publicly disclose copies of those work-papers and/or footnotes promptly.

Third, the town recently asked the tax assessor to consider whether, despite the clear ordinance, he nevertheless has the discretion to require applicants for the $368 credit to disclose their entire financial picture. It should take an experienced assessor a nanosecond to conclude that he has no such discretion. And if the assessor ever tried to assert such discretion, and denied an eligible senior the $368 exemption because he or she refused to comply with the new, onerous application, a court would overturn that denial in a New York minute (and award the taxpayer his or her legal fees to boot).

Finally, the town proposes to bootstrap its flawed interpretation of the flat exemption into an unprecedented deadline of Oct. 31, (since extended to Dec. 1) for senior exemption applications, instead of the long-time deadline of March 31, (2018).  

The town's only "explanation" for this attempt to disadvantage and exclude seniors, by suddenly establishing an accelerated filing date, is to gather comprehensive financial information on everyone over 65. But since the flat exemption must be granted without regard to finances, the new deadline is arbitrary, unjustified and unenforceable. 

If the town follows through on its threat to cut off senior applications on Dec. 1 (while leaving intact the filing deadline of March 31, 2018 for every other exemption that is not income-dependent), it is virtually guaranteeing yet another lawsuit.

The flat exemption for seniors has served the town well for decades, and will continue to do so. The town's stated justifications for eliminating it are plainly erroneous and would, if adopted, give rise to major litigation that the town would lose.  

It is time for whoever is pushing this change to remove the bulls-eye on the backs of 1,000 seniors, eliminate the back-stabbing of Barrington seniors, and begin to play it straight on this ill-conceived and illegal plan.  Barrington is a better town than this, and its seniors deserve better than this shabby treatment.

Matt Medeiros

Barrington

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