I'm $2485 poorer now. Just paid my property taxes

[hobbit709]

But it was still $320 less than last years.

[Democracyinkind]

1. Here's me waiting for Rush describing your thread as "whining"!

For the record: It doesn't matter that you're clearly not whining.

[hobbit709]

2. Rush can commit a physically improbable sexual act with himself

[Democracyinkind]

4. Let's hope that he will try that, if only for the sake of the good people of the Dominican Republic.

[former-republican]

3. My towns millrate went up .5 %

[hobbit709]

5. Mine went up too but it was offset by a decrease in value.

[former-republican]

8. I already have the case pending for that with the assessor

It's done by a case by case basis here.

It's not a blanket decrease for all the properties .

[Jersey Devil]

27. reduced assessment does not always equal lower taxes

If everyone's property tax assessments were cut in half then the tax rate would double. They still need the same amount of money to run the government. Reducing assessments across the board accomplishes nothing.

[CTyankee]

6. I wish mine was. Those pesky firefighters and police...

[madville]

7. Mine were $700 this year but I'm going to owe the IRS about $4k in April

Going to take a hit on the 2012 federal taxes, gonna be eating beans and rice for awhile.

[slackmaster]

9. Mine has risen steadily and predictably by 2% every year that I have owned my home

It just topped $2,000 per year.

[hobbit709]

10. In 1990 when we bought the house the taxes were under $400

The value of the house tripled and the tax rate more than tripled. But the housing sales slump finally caught up with the valuation this year.

[slackmaster]

11. That's what happens when you let property taxes be tied to something other than what YOU paid

I know it's crazy in Texas. I have a cousin in a nice part of Houston. He's at war with the assessor almost every year.

Here in California you know exactly what you are going to pay for as long as you own the home. We can and do sometimes vote in surcharges to help pay for things like school construction and pest eradication, but the core property tax is very predictable and easy to budget for.

[former-republican]

12. I wish it was like that here

The elderly get hit the worst when they think they are mortgage free on a fixed income.

[hobbit709]

13. The problem here got really bad in 1995 when Idiot Son became governor.

The legislature funded less and less but mandated that the schools provide more and more. Same for the cities and counties.

[slackmaster]

14. Because there is no personal income tax, Texas relies on sales and property taxes for its revenue

And because property taxes are allowed to float up and down with "market" prices, it's always a mess.

Here in California the state has always been dependent on personal income tax for most of its revenue - That was true even before Proposition 13 stabilized property taxes. So when the economy is in the tank, incomes are down and so are state revenues. But our property values are high, and are less volatile than in many other places.

There doesn't seem to be a perfect solution anywhere.

[joeglow3]

19. That would hardly be fair

So someone who bought a bunch of land 50 years ago that is now worth millions should only pay taxes on the pittance he paid decades ago?

Property tax should be based on the fair market value of the property. Something tells me you would not support this policy on a vehicle (something that depreciates in value).

[slackmaster]

23. Why should the tax I pay for my home be determined by forces over which I have no control?

My family was on the losing side of that one in the 1970s. It made budgeting very difficult. It was inherently regressive because wealthier people could literally drive others off their land by paying inflated prices for neighboring parcels.

ETA that is exactly what was happening in the 1970s in the community where I grew up.

So someone who bought a bunch of land 50 years ago that is now worth millions should only pay taxes on the pittance he paid decades ago?

Unless that person was exceptionally shrewd 50 years ago, he or she had no way of knowing what the value of the property would be now.

That person is now elderly, and probably on a fixed income. Give Grandma a break and let the next owner pay higher taxes.

[FreeJoe]

33. On the other hand...

I always thought it was unfair that two neighbors living next door to each other in identical houses might being paying radically different property taxes. Is it really fair for one person to have to pay 10x another when they earn the same, spend the same, and live in virutally the same house?

[slackmaster]

35. That happens only when they bought their homes at totally different times. Inflation happens.

Is it fair that I paid $50 for a Craftsman 1/2-inch drive torque wrench that is identical to one that my next-door neighbor paid $5 for three years before I was born?

My salary is a whole lot more than his was in the mid-1950s. If you adjust for inflation, we each paid for our wrenches by working for a couple of hours.

Is it really fair for one person to have to pay 10x another when they earn the same, spend the same, and live in virutally the same house?

Odds are pretty good that the person paying the much lower tax is either already retired or will be soon. Home values rarely appreciate by a factor of 10 in a time span of less than multiple decades. When they do, something very unusual is going on.

ETA my next-door neighbors pay about 1/3 what I do in property taxes. They are the original owners of their home, which was built the same year as mine and has a similar lot size and floor plan. The difference is that I bought mine 30 years after they bought theirs. They're lovely people, great neighbors.

That difference doesn't bother me a bit. I knew exactly what I would be paying in property taxes for the rest of my life when I bought my home in 1994.

[Retrograde]

22. So does mine

that's the part of California's prop. 13 that people tend to forget about - the increases are capped, but mine have regularly gone up 2% each year since we bought the place. Not to mention special assessments for utilities, sewer, school districts, parcel taxes and all the other "non-taxes" stuck on top of that.

[slackmaster]

24. At least we get to vote on all of the special assessments

I think it's a great system for residential property.

I would not object to some revisions to tax code for commercial land.

[Retrograde]

36. I know we vote on the parcel tax

and it's been passed twice with 2/3 of the vote, and sales taxes. Can't remember the others.

My city owns its utilities, and that's another revenue source. Our garbage rates are going up because we're not generating enough garbage.

[madokie]

15. Ours went up last year

haven't got the bill for this year yet.

[Earth_First]

16. We weren't given property tax increases this year...

However, Maggie Brooks (R) the county executive who ran unsucessfully for Congress against Louise Slaughter, has increased "chargebacks" from the City of Rochester to county taxpayers by 23% or to the tune of 40 million dollars.

Monroe County has the highest property tax rate in the nation; however through COMIDA and other Downtown Development Corporation loopholes, City of Rochester downtown real estate owners recieve generous PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) grants and tax structure subsidies to develop downtown real estate.

Prime example is the Rochwill corporation; a parent group of The Wilmorite Group. The Wilmorite Group own four area malls, several strip mall retail locations, and most recently residential housing primarily used by Rochester Institute of Technology. Rochwill was able to sell a property downtown to a Boston-based development firm, at a profit; on a property that Rochwill owed the City of Rochester $20 million in back real estate property taxes. The mayor and City Council simply 'charged-off' the deliquent amount; and allowed the sale to move forward.

This is simply ONE example of many in the City of Rochester (NY)

[Kaleva]

17. My winter property taxes was $149.

Summer taxes were double that so the total the property taxes for 2012 about $450.

[Jersey Devil]

18. You folks have no idea what high property taxes are

Dumont, Bergen County, NJ, a lower middle class community, about 7 miles from the GW Bridge, 2,400 sq foot colonial on a 75x100 lot = $15,000+ per year property taxes. Christie was elected with promises to stop the incredible rise in property taxes and so far has done nothing to slow it down. I love NJ, lived here all my life, but when my wife retires in a few years we are going to be forced to move somewhere else.

[slackmaster]

20. New Jersey is where California was headed before the people put a stop to it

$15K per year on a single family home is unconscionable.

[Jersey Devil]

25. Lowest property taxes in NJ would be in the retirement communities down near Seaside at the shore

probably in the range of 3k-4k for an average home but once you get within commuting distance of NYC in the north taxes are astronomical. I feel sorry for my kids who love the area but never will be able to move here.

[hobbit709]

21. I have a 950 sq. ft. house and I live on $938/mo SS

[Jersey Devil]

26. It's all relative

Your taxes are about 3 mos of SS at your monthly rate. Mine would be 9-10 months at my rate, which is why NJ is definitely not the place to live in retirement.

[Lars39]

28. Most states have a tax relief program

for elderly, disabled or disabled veteran. Must meet income requirements...well worth looking into.

[hobbit709]

29. Not until I'm 65. Two and a half years to go.

[Lars39]

30. Oh, no.

At least you might have a head start...a lot of people don't know the programs exist, especially in red states.

[bluestate10]

37. Move to Massachusetts, or Vermont. If you are retired, you make out because

your income tax rate will be lower and Massachusetts and Vermont property taxes are lower than those in New Hampshire. Vermont is beautiful, although mostly land locked. The coastal parts of Massachusetts are expensive because lots of people want to live in those parts, western Massachusetts is highly with some tony parts near the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

[spanone]

31. even as home prices dropped my PT went up every year

can you say 'racket'?

[ecstatic]

32. I appealed mine and was surprised to see they approved

Well, not quite. They came back with a counter value that was lower than their original assessment, but higher than my estimate. I just accepted it since my county is notorious for rejecting all appeals.

[FreeJoe]

34. I paid over $900 for MUD tax

My property tax was another $9,000 on top of that. Our schools and local government are reasonably well managed, so I don't mind paying it. Still, I'd prefer a system that relied on income and consumption taxes and not property taxes.