High property taxes in the city make choosing to “Believe” a bad choice for everyone?s wallets. Combining property taxes twice as high as surrounding counties? with poorly performing schools, high crime and pothole-jarring streets, and it just doesn?t make sense to live in the city on multiple levels.

Who wants to get mugged on the street and in your tax bill?

It?s no wonder the city has been shedding residents for decades.

As City Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector (D-5) told The Examiner, “If we don?t lower the tax rate, we?re creating a barrier for people who want to move into the city.”

That would be a real shame, given the renaissance spreading from downtown throughout the city?s neighborhoods.

Without tax relief, skyrocketing housing values ? that drive up assessments and tax bills ? threaten to eliminate the middle class and transform the city into one with an even greater dividing line between haves and have nots.

As a champion of “work force” housing, the mayor owes it to the teachers and firefighters and sanitation workers she wants to live in the city to make it affordable for them to do so.

The mayor?s spokesman, Anthony McCarthy, said she will specifically address property taxes in the next two weeks and that she wants come up with comprehensive tax reforms.

“The mayor is really determined that taxes should not stand between those wanting to buy homes, wanting to bring their families into the city,” McCarthy said.

“It is one of her No. 1 concerns,” he said.

He declined to give specifics.

But slashing them in half would be a good start.

It could be the “tipping point” to turn the slowing population loss into a net migration into the city ? and a boon to city tax coffers.

That a Democrat would make cutting taxes atop priority for the good of her constituents bodes well for the city.

The City Council must work with her to make it happen.