Amid growing, vocal frustration over dilapidated, abandoned buildings on the part of residents in neighborhoods like Shaw and Petworth, a D.C. Council committee approved a measure to double the tax rate on abandoned properties. As the Examiner notes, the move could generate millions in additional revenue while at the same time serve as an incentive for land owners to either renovate and develop their properties or sell to someone who will.

The measure, introduced as an amendment to a bill that’s designed to consolidate vacant property enforcement under a single agency by Council member Kwame Brown (D-At-large), will increase the tax rate on Class 3 property from $5 per $100 of assessed value to $10 per $100.

Will it work? The Examiner cites a 1998 study by the D.C. Tax Revision Commission that suggests it might not. Considering the length of time many of these properties have been abandoned by their owners, it doesn’t seem like this increase would necessarily give a speculator enough of an incentive to develop their buildings.

Former DCist editor Rob Goodspeed recently compiled a survey on his own blog of abandoned property on 9th St. NW, and explained how vacant buildings are classified as Class 3.

Photo by stgermh