Page 15 - MARCH2023

March 2023 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM Page 15 Warrant Article on Residential Solar Tax
At the March Bristol Town Meeting, residents will be asked to vote on a Petitioned Warrant Ar- ticle that is intended to repeal the current policy of taxing residen- tial solar panels. There are several reasons why the elimination of this current tax is beneficial to our community.
The current tax for solar pan- els is calculated by multiplying the number of solar panels times a value set by the Assessors. Current values have been set at $500 per panel. This number is added to the assessed value of your home. A typical home will require ap- proximately 30 solar panels to meet its electricity needs, resulting in an incremental increase to the assessed value of $15,000. As- suming an average property tax of 2%, this results in an increased tax of $300 per year. There are a number of reasons why this policy should be repealed:
As a community, we should be encouraging the deployment of solar panels, not discouraging it with an incremental tax. Solar arrays allow homeowners to
generate electricity for their own personal consumption, at a much lower rate than purchasing it from Eversource, our only supplier. Re- pealing the solar tax will help to reduce the cost of electricity for homeowners.
It is better to repeal this tax now. The current revenue gener- ated by this solar tax is small, at less than $10k. The resulting im- pact on eliminating the tax would be less than $.01 per thousand.
The current tax policy is re- gressive and disproportionate. As an example, consider two homes, one valued at $100,000 and the other at $300,000. Both homes decided to install 30 solar panels resulting in an incremental tax of $300/year for each home. The addition of the solar panels to the lower valued home raises their ef- fective tax rate to $2300/$100000 = 2.3%. But in the case of the higher valued home, the tax rate becomes $6300/$300000 = 2.1%. Because the tax is not pro- portionate to the property value, the tax penalizes the lower valued homes more than the higher val-
ued homes. This leaves the lower valued home paying a higher per- centage of the tax burden than the higher valued home.
Encouraging the adoption of Residential Solar Arrays is good for the town of Bristol. As more solar is deployed, Eversource will be required to update the local power distribution network. These investments will allow for future deployment of storage bat- teries, improving the resiliency of electricity in our community, and lowering our dependency on the power utility.
Solar arrays reduce our com- munity’s dependence on fossil fuels, and their related price fluc- tuations. Once the cost of the solar installation is paid for, the cost of electricity is near zero. Solar has the power to heat and cool our homes, provide hot water, and power the lights.
Solar arrays are good for the planet by replacing energy pro- duced by fossil fuels with energy produced by the sun.
Over the next ten years, most homes in the US will convert to
solar panels, battery storage, and heat pumps. This combination will provide enough hot water, home heating and cooling, and lighting, to eliminate the need for energy supplied by a utility or oil & gas company. Last year, the fed- eral government passed the Bipar- tisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Both bills have funding that is targeted at improving these technologies and supporting the transition away from fossil fuels. As a community,
we should encourage this energy transition with tax policies that don’t discourage their adoption.
There will be a public infor- mation session on Tuesday March 7th from 4-6 PM at the Minot Sleeper Library on the proposed Solar Warrant Article to answer any questions residents may have about this warrant article. Mem- bers of the Bristol Energy Com- mittee will be available to discuss the proposal and answer any ques- tions.
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