This Is A Whole Mood

Are property taxes robbing from the poor and giving breaks to the wealthy? A new tool from researcher Christopher Berry of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy reveals a “reverse Robin Hood” situation playing out in communities across the country.

What’s happening: Almost 98 percent of U.S. counties use a regressive assessment, where owners of homes valued in the bottom 10 percent pay a higher share of taxes than those who own the top 10 percent of homes. 

Wait, how does that work?: Many properties aren’t properly assessed. If a home sells for $300,000, the local assessor assumes similar homes in the neighborhood are worth the same amount — without going inside to see what upgrades have been made or repairs ignored. Berry found that between 2011 and 2015, Cook County, Ill., shifted $2.2 billion worth of the property tax burden from properties that were undervalued to those that were overvalued. “People wouldn’t tolerate this if it were the income tax,” Berry said, “but because the property tax is so opaque to people, it seems to have gone unnoticed for a very long time.”

And the imbalance has racial implications: A recent study of 118 million homes nationwide found that Black and Hispanic homeowners pay 10 to 13 percent more in property taxes than whites who own similar properties.

What can be done: Changing the way home values are assessed is a start. We can make property taxes more fair and progressive by charging those in less expensive homes lower rates, expanding property tax breaks to seniors and other specialty groups, making certain discounts such as homestead exemptions are automatic, and changing the appeals process.

Pretrial agencies across the country that are working to safely reduce their jail populations. We’ve talked before about the pandemic’s impact on pretrial reforms, and today, we take a closer look at three case studies: Kentucky, Harris County, Texas, and San Francisco. 

• Kentucky’s pretrial system has grown more efficient and consistent in response to the pandemic. The state scaled up its delegated release authority to include all nonviolent, nonsexual misdemeanors and Class D felonies, as well as all civil matters and bench warrants for failure to appear. “People are getting released that otherwise would not have, and we’re still not seeing much of an increase in our crime or arrest rates at all, and I don’t expect to,” says the department’s Executive Officer, Tara Blair. “If these reforms are still in place six months, a year from now, and the sky didn’t fall, I think that speaks for itself.” Read the story >
   

• Harris County, Texas, was well on its way to reforming its pretrial system before COVID-19 hit, and the pandemic has only reinforced those improvements. In October 2016, there were roughly 2,000 defendants out on supervised release while awaiting trial, says Harris County Pretrial Services Director Kelvin Banks. By June 2020, that number is almost 20,000 — a 793 percent increase. “We absolutely believe Harris County can be an example for other jurisdictions to learn from the things we’ve done well, from the things we didn’t do so great in, and everything in between,” says Banks. Read the story >
   

• San Francisco, Calif., has long been focused on decreasing its jail population by divesting from law enforcement and investing in communities. Its nonprofit San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project offers neighborhood courts, targeted diversion programs, in-custody programs, and courtroom support. The biggest threat exposed by the pandemic? San Francisco’s lack of affordable housing. Read the story >

We’ve seen a lot of finger-pointing about rising homicide rates in cities across the country, but as this Wall Street Journal analysis points out, it’s a bipartisan issue. “Though many of America’s biggest cities are run by Democrats, the rise in killings is a bipartisan problem. Homicides are rising at a double-digit rate in most of the big cities run by Republicans, including Miami, San Diego, Omaha, Tulsa, Okla., and Jacksonville, Fla., as well as in cities run by Democrats and in the two major cities run by Independents: San Antonio and Las Vegas.”

A confluence of factors indicate homicide rates may not only return to pre-COVID-19 levels, but will likely continue to rise for the remainder of 2020, say researchers Thomas Abt and Richard Rosenfeld. Vox offers seven possible reasons for the spike. 

Overall crime is not up, though, and violent crime has been declining for the past 30 years. But recent trends have Americans convinced otherwise. Five-Thirty-Eight explains why that is, and why this thinking is a threat to criminal justice reforms that can make everyone safer.

“John Lewis: Good Trouble,” a documentary that chronicles Lewis’ experience in the nonviolence movement (“I lost all sense of fear, really. When you lose the sense of fear, you’re free.”) and draws parallels between his vigorous fight for voting rights and today’s efforts to suppress them. “I feel lucky and blessed that I am serving in the Congress. But there are forces today trying to take us back to another time and another dark period," he says in the opening credits. The historical footage is a highlight, including a clip Lewis said he was seeing for the first time during filming. There are many ways to watch, some of which can benefit your local independent cinema.


 

Related: Read Lewis’ powerful essay published posthumously in The New York Times. He writes that Emmett Till was his George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor. “Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.”

I’m glued to “Nice White Parents,” the new podcast from Serial Productions (yes, that “Serial”) and The New York Times. It was born from award-winning “This American Life” episodes on education and school segregation reported by Chana Joffe-Walt and Nikole Hannah-Jones (listen here and here). “Nice White Parents” brings you inside the PTA meetings and fundraisers at a public school in Brooklyn for a front-row seat on what can go wrong when some parents think they mean well. It’s the perfect podcast for anyone who cares about the success of all students.

I have a hard time convincing my daughter that Beyoncé lives in a different artistic stratosphere than her favorite pop singers. (Where did I go wrong?!) My latest piece of evidence: “Black Is King,” her visually stunning art production based on the music of “The Gift.” From the fashion to the choreography to the messaging, it is a brilliant reflection on the meaning of identity. I also appreciated this discussion by critics from the worlds of art, dance, fashion, and pop — “a grand statement of African-diaspora pride and creative power.” Learn more about the African artists featured in the film here. You need a Disney Plus subscription to watch, but here’s a preview with the video for “Already.” It’s a whole mood. 



Also...

• Everyone is talking about this Nike ad, an editing marvel that required 4,000 hours of sports footage to make.
   

• Watch another sports feat: Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky swimming the length of the pool with a full glass of chocolate milk on her head. (Yes, it’s an ad, too, but it will still make your day.)
   

• Despite the links above, I’m not a very sporty person. But the joy from this girl who just landed her first kickflip is contagious.