Taxes could get sky-high with aerial technology

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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.

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