CPA MINUTE: The 1.5% Surtax

“Hello, my name is Bill Boivin and I am a member of the committee to pass the community preservation act, the CPA, in Burlington.

There are questions about the 1.5% surcharge and how it works. Let me give an example.

Suppose your house is worth $625,000, which is typical in Burlington today.

Under CPA each property automatically gets a $100,000 deduction, so your surtax would be calculated on $525,000 of property value. 

Our residential tax rate is 0.995%, almost exactly 1% so let’s use 1% to make easier calculation.  The property tax on $525,000 is $5,250.  The surtax would be 1.5% of that, or $78.75. 

And moderate income seniors earning $112,000 or less for a 2 person household and low income households of any age earning $89,000 or less for a 2 person household can opt out of paying entirely.

I hope this helps understanding of the CPA surtax.

You can learn much more about the CPA at our website: www.yescpaburlington.org.”