As Home Values Fall, Property Tax Revolt Brews

[steven johnson]

Even as their home values depreciate, homeowners are likely to see increases in their tax rates, because appraisals sometimes have been done years earlier.

Homeowners watching the value of their houses slowly ebb are storming tax offices from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Atlanta, demanding that county officials reassess their homes and lower their property taxes.
Boxes are tossed into a pile mimicking the Boston Tea Party revolt during an anti-tax rally organized by Property Owners for Predictable Tax Now on the steps of the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia, Wash., Monday, Jan. 14, 2008.
It is a question of fairness, says Gene Burleson of Atlanta, who stood in line April 1 to appeal his assessment. His house has lost 25 percent of its value since it was last assessed, he adds: "I'm just trying to insulate myself from coming tax increases."
Property taxes have become a rallying point for disgruntled Americans because, unlike sales or income taxes, they can be challenged directly by individual citizens: Some 40 percent of assessment appeals are successful. Yet the movement threatens already stressed counties, putting the tax receipts that pays for schools and police at risk.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7254270&page=1

[Muttocracy]

1. also probably going up due to falling state aid (in NYS anyway). nt

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Wow, more retarded anti-tax astroturfing.

Oh yes, sign me up to burn down City Hall :eyes:

[pnutbutr]

7. it's not anti-tax

If your home is worth $100k but you are paying taxes on it being valued at $200k wouldn't you be just a bit upset?

[MADem]

3. As it should.

And city and town workers--to include highly paid school administrators and even teachers-- are going to need to understand that they've got to take pay cuts or lose people vertically, with whole departments being chopped away to keep the main agencies afloat.

[sandnsea]

4. School costs haven't gone down

Most of the ones who won't pay for schools, will pay for jails ten times higher than what the school would ever ask for.

[hobbit709]

5. Around here school districts have spent $50 mill

on a new state of the art football stadium and then gave no raises to teachers and staff because they had no money for that or for fixing existing school buildings. That's the kind of thing that makes me vote against bond issues.

[Fumesucker]

6. That's the kind of thing that makes steam come out of my ears..

The worship given to athletics in this country is just flat astounding and it's one of the things I think is profoundly screwed up about our culture.

In my state we have stadiums, gymnasiums and arenas out the ying yang, you can't walk around the block without tripping over one, but I can really only think of two science centers.

[depakid]

8. That's the American way!

[FreeStateDemocrat]

9. Tax rate times assessed value = desired tax revenue. Reduced assestment value = increase tax rate

It is a necessary source of revenue to fund government services so you will pay even if the system is inherently flawed and unfair. Income tax is the more fair and cost efficient method of obtaining revenue without the cumbersome, expensive, and inequitable additional bureaucracy of property taxes.

[Mari333]

10. I guess my small town got smart

the taxes were lowered this winter and are going down this summer. maybe they knew it was a lost cause to keep them up there. doesnt bother me, I know my home is now worth less, and will now pay less in property taxes. nonetheless, if they hadnt been adjusted, I would have been the first in line to demand they bring them down.

[Vinca]

11. People do not understand property taxes.

Whether your house is valued high or low doesn't really matter. What is crucial is that all similar properties are appraised in the same ball park. The town has X number of dollars in bills and property taxes try to fairly share them among property owners. The amount of the bills rarely goes down so property taxes as a whole can't go down. You might have a previous appraisal at $400,000 and have your house reappraised at $200,000 but that doesn't mean you'll end up getting a smaller tax bill. The exception, of course, would be half your house has burned down so it's not comparable to the pricey house next door even though that's what it used to be.

[nc4bo]

12. Our county just re-evaluated property taxes this year and guess what?

They went up, some significantly. Many properties were built during the bubble days.

People are steaming mad as hell with no where to release the steam.

Latest unemployment rates by county in North Carolina:

http://www.wral.com/news/state/page/4879060/





In Harnett County (where I live), it's 11.80% I predict there will be an increase in property tax auctions in our state's future.

:wtf: