I Hate Property Taxes!

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By JLP | May 2, 2007

Yesterday I got my notice from the appraisal district regarding the appraised value of my house along with an estimate of how much my property taxes will be for the year. The tax rates are lower for this year, which reduced the dollar amount of my taxes. However, they didn’t go down as much as they could have. Why? Because the jacked up the value of my house to make up for the difference!

The county has two ways to raise and lower property tax:

1. Raise or lower the tax rate, which is usually a dollar amount per $100 of the home’s valuation.

or,…

2. Raise or lower the value of the home

So, they can raise the value of your home, thereby raising the amount of taxes you owe but still not “officially” raise taxes since they left the tax rate alone. Our county did this for a number of years and then a couple of years ago they waged a campaign to raise the tax rate by saying that they hadn’t raised taxes in a number of years.

I realize that the appraised value of my house should somewhat reflect the housing market. However, according to their numbers, the value of my house went up over 9% last year! That’s some pretty sizeable appreciation!

Anyway, the grand total for my property taxes for the coming year is $2,944. It could be worse.

Topics: Housing Market, Taxes |

Comments to “I Hate Property Taxes!”

Tyler Reddun Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:55 am

Funny, if you don’t pay your property tax you lose your property. You never stop paying property tax as long as you own your property.

That’s not a tax… that’s Rent.

tinyhands Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:47 pm

I feel your pain, as the exact same thing happened to me this year. My tax bill, however, is probably going to be a little more than twice yours. I doubt my home is worth twice yours but, since Texas doesn’t have an income tax, they get us on the property.

Miguel Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:12 pm

This is one tax where NYC is cheap. But, instead, they get us on the local income and sales taxes.

I keep reading that there are local r.e. tax revolts going on around the country.

Dan Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:42 pm

Ever call the police or fire department? You get what you pay for. Here’s a decent illustration, I’m sure it’s fairly close to a lot of counties out there:

http://opkansas.org/_Res/imgRes/imgResSub/property_tax2006.gif

samerwriter Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm

Some counties cap the valuation increase. When we built our house (late 90s) it was valued at $X. However a more recent county appraisal put the value at about $1.8X.

However our property tax increases are capped at 3% per year. So over the last 8 years, the actual increase has been 26% (1.03^8) rather than 80%.

Noel Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:18 pm

Damn Texas property tax! Other states have higher income and sales taxes but you are taxed on what you are using/spending/earning. But property taxes? Most of it goes to the schools. What if you don’t have any children?

Chris Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm

I paid $3,100 in property taxes last year and I do not have an expensive home. In Texas. I happily pay to fund the local services and schools, I just disagree with forcing it based on property ownership. The first commenter was dead on, we rent land from the US Government, home ownership is an illusion.

20BigOnes Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:27 pm

I believe your property went up 9% because the county appraisers value your property based on their data which is usually 2 years old. Hence, it went up 9% in the 2004-2005 years and that’s the appraisal.

I read an article about it in the WSJ weekend edition.

Many homeowners are paying taxes on appreciated houses even though their properties may have decreased in the last 2 years.

Scott Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:47 pm

9 percent? I have no sympathy for you, JLP. Mine went up over 70% since the last assessment 2 years before. I have a small house on 3/4 acre. I bought it in 1994 for $79k. Over the next 10 years, the assessment increased to $89.5k. Last year, it was assessed at $156K! The average for the county (Gloucester, VA) was somewhere in the neighborhood of a 40-50% increase. The county is letting developers run wild, building houses that most folks who live & work here won’t be able to afford. At the same time, they refuse to acknowledge that our roads here can’t handle the traffic that’s on them now, and our schools are way too crowded already.

Adam Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:33 pm

I agree, property taxes are a joke. I understand that local services need money to operate, but holding the American Dream hostage for it is what I consider to be simply un-American. The housing market is booming around here (wester north carolina) due to all the retirees moving in, and many local residents that have had property in their families for as long as one can remember, are being forced out simply because they can’t afford to pay the government what they demand.

Omer Yusaf Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:32 pm

You said $2994, the house I was looking for to buy had a property tax of 11000 a year!. Hope this will give you some relief.

Don Says:
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:48 pm

Sorry, but you don’t “we rent land from the US Government.” Perhaps from the state or county government, but not the national government.

KMC Says:
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:50 am

I’m glad I read the comments here. I was like JLP, complaining when I got an increase every year. Now that Dan and others put that in perspective, I think I won’t resent it as much. Saying you’re paying a tax and saying you’re paying for the fire and police departments sound different to me somehow.

Danielle Says:
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:53 pm

Yes, it could be so much worse!! I live in NJ on less than a half acre of property with a house accessed around 260K and we pay close to $9,000!! I would trade with you any day!!

Paul Says:
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:32 pm

I have a house I am rehabbing assessed for $162K - property taxes are $8200 - I love NY !!!!

Jonathan Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 3:14 am

I’ll trade you your high property tax for my 9% state income tax

Free Money Finance Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 5:20 am

Star Money Articles for the Week of April 30

Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: AllFinancialMatters hates property taxes. MightyBargainHunter gives a really simple retirement formula. Five Cent Nickel suggests three ways to make your IRA wo…

lorax Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 6:56 pm

I agree. Property taxes are one of the most regressive taxes.

Unfortunately, some of the low income tax states are high property tax states. Even more so if you take into account services rendered. In my case, when I moved from state to state, my property taxes skyrocketed but my income taxes fell. For me it was just about a wash.

Public services need to be paid for some way… chose your poison and who it affects most. (cue obligatory libertarian gripes about how some don’t use the school, would rather own an SUV than have the roads plowed, never call the fire dept, and don’t appreciate police)

Stacey Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

This week our tax bill arrived–$5,632 for a nice, 2600+sq. foot 4-br home. Nothin’ special, just our love nest!

P.S. Since we moved our boys from parochial school and into the public school system, I feel the best I ever have about our property taxes! Bargain city!!

Now 3% IL income tax, 7.75% sales tax, 28% fed’l tax, not to mention AMT…THOSE are something to gripe about!

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I Hate Property Taxes!