A new high-tech aerial photography system that can spot an illegal porch from 5,000 feet is being marketed to tax assessors as a way to grow revenue. Pictometry International Corp. says it offers tax assessors 12 different views of every square foot of building or land in a jurisdiction that buys their system. They call it “sophisticated visual intelligence.” State Sen. Jeff Van Drew has another name for it.
“It’s Big Brother,” said Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. “We’re not supposed to be spying on people. When it gets to the point where we’re doing aerial spying on people’s lives, I’ve had enough,” Van Drew said. At stake is an untold amount of tax revenue. Cape May County appears to be ground zero on the issue as it was one of the first in the nation to buy into the system, purchasing its first pictures in 2003. While Van Drew ponders writing a law to limit the uses of Pictometry, Cape May County Tax Administrator George R. Brown III is already using it to adjust assessments on farms. He doesn’t consider it a Big Brother tactic. He calls it “a great assessment tool,” one of many to make sure people pay their fair share of taxes.
“What’s on the books should be enforced, and we have new technology to do that. You compare the photos and find physical changes,” Brown said. Farmers who are not farming enough of their land could end up with higher taxes. Brown said the next step is to use pictures of residential areas to catch illegal additions and other violations.
In this economy, local government will be looking for more and more ways to slip into your back pocket. You might want to put one on these umbrellas on your porch…
New York City was and probably still is using aerial photography to spot unregistered swimming pools that get assesed an additional water tax !!! So Big Brother is already here !!!
A new high-tech aerial photography system that can spot an illegal porch from 5,000 feet is being marketed to tax assessors as a way to grow revenue.
Does it bother anyone besides me that we live in a world where the words “illegal porch” actually means something other than nonsense?
Well, why don’t we just go ahead and get our “666” chips installed in the back of our hands so that we can be tracked going everywhere we go and buying everything buy. And, parents, its a GREAT way to prevent your precious child from being kidnapped! TRUST US, WE’RE THE GOVERNMENT.
#2..yes, it bothers me greatly.
But it has bothered me greatly for 40 years. Noting new under the sun.
Whatever happened to the second amendment? The right to bear arms never said the right to bear some arms.
I recommend 50 cals and RPG’s for everyone. Perhaps its time we show them who the citizen is and who the servant is.
FINALLY, A DVORAK WEB-BLOG WORTHY STORY.
I want one of those umbrellas.
There was a similar thing happening in the UK a couple of years back. I think it was blogged about here to at the time.
Thankfully my part of the world has woefully low res satellite imagery (so far) so my planned extension shouldn’t be flagged 🙂
I do not think that this is high tech. Cities, , states and the federal government have been doing this for years to collect land and property taxes here in Brazil.
Property should be BASED on the property..
NOT the building ON IT or IF your YARD is clean/cut or a NEW ROOF..
Im, REALLY, starting to think that a BELOW ground level house has alot going for it, besides the THERMAL cooling and control.
Over-tax & over-regulate & stuff & it just goes underground. Literally so with real-estate.
Drawin’ up ma plans for ma new sub-sub-basement.
Fine, except it won’t catch the millionaires who add an addition to their homes, by jacking the first floor up, and building a new one underneath. Can’t see that from space! Nor any extensive basement work. But anyone else adding so much as an extra foot of asphalt to their driveway, is gonna get nabbed. My neighbor almost got taxed for having a new garage added to their property. The problem was, the assessor was looking at one that was part of another property, facing a nearby street, that was years old! But this inexperienced douche figured whatever house the garage was closest to, was it’s true owner. And the rest of the bureaucracy never questioned this. Fortunately, the 77 year old widowed homeowner was able to set them straight. Sheesh!