Property Tax Increase Disclosure - Do Sellers need to be a CPA??

The Montgomery County, Maryland County Council will vote next Tuesday on Bill 24-07.  To paraphrase, the purpose of the bill is to provide the buyer an estimate of the property taxes they will pay in the first full fiscal year of ownership.

This sounds reasonable on the surface.  But the council's suggestion as to how this be accomplished is, in my opinion, complicated and oneous.

I invite you to look at the county tax office's website and the document they have posted to help sellers calculate the new tax figure:

"Procedure for Estimating Propery Taxes to comply with bill 24-07"

Our local association of Realtors and the Maryland Home Builders suggested to the council that they make a person available in the tax office to provide these figures.  The council rejected that suggestion and instead offered a compromise of an online spreadsheet that can be used to figure out the tax.

Spreadsheet link

One should keep in mind that loan companies will still use the current tax bill on the GFE's (good faith estimates), so there will be no consistency of information.

I think the issue the Council is addressing is an important and viable one, however, I think this bill is just wrong.