Property Taxes Up As House Prices Fall

[Purveyor]

Property taxes will keep rising nearly everywhere for homeowners even as house prices are falling in many parts of the country, according to a USA TODAY analysis of government data.

A key reason: Despite the downturn, the market value of millions of homes still exceeds their assessed value used for tax purposes.

"Some people are irritated to learn the news," says Jim Todora, a property tax assessor in Sarasota County, Fla. "Their home's value may have gone down, but their property tax is still going up."

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Property taxes from homeowners and businesses go mostly to local governments, paying for schools, roads, police and other services. Collections rose 7% last year to a record $377 billion, although the median home price climbed just 1% nationwide and fell in many places. The disconnect is likely to continue.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-04-24-property-tax_N.htm

[ThomWV]

1. Immagine The Poor Fool Who ....

Paid a million dollars for his home. Now its worth $900 grand, if he could sell it. The property taxes that used to cost him $3 grand a year are now up to $5,000. Oh, and his job security is shakey at best and lease is up on the SUV.

[mainer]

9. 5 grand on a million dollar house? That's peanuts!

Most areas I know have mill rates of one percent. A million dollar house will cost you $10,000 in taxes every year.

[genie_weenie]

2. Property taxes have to go.

There is nothing so evil as the threat of a Government to have a constant and unending lien on your home.

[Ignacio Upton]

5. Agreed, but how would we replace the revenue?

The revenue that property taxes bring in is necessary to fund schools, for example.

[genie_weenie]

6. Completely slash the DoD budget. This, of course,

will never happen since the government has shrewdly employed thousands of americans in the military-industrial-complex. For example, Lieberman and the New London Sub Base. But 622 billion for the maintenance of the Imperial Military is astounding, plus last year with all the supplementals the government spent 900 billion on the War Machine.

[FormerDittoHead]

8. You do know that not one CENT of property taxes goes for defense, right? n/t

[mainegreen]

7. I partially disagree. While there should be an exemptable amount...

large value properties should be taxed.

[ruiner4u]

12. Do you like the idea that you can call the police in the middle of the night?

Brought to you by those pesky property taxes..

[genie_weenie]

13. So we have property taxes paying for education and police

want to throw anything else on there? Do you like the idea of the government being able to take your home whenever it wishes? And using those same police to evict you if you dare cause a problem. Like say in Virginia where property rights advocates are classifed as Terrorists?

Page 4 Top Right under Domestic Terror Organizations
http://www.virginianewssource.com/images/VATerrorismManual.pdf

[Justyce]

3. The county appraised our

house value at nearly TWICE what it was last year, despite the fact that we didn't make any improvements & house values are falling... so my taxes are going up significantly. The loophole -- they technically didn't raise our taxes, just the appraisals.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. The revenue has to be constant. If there is less (if not nonexistent)

federal and state tax aid for local projects and compacts, then the burden falls directly on the shoulders of the municipalities to fund them. Education. Repair and maintenance of interstructure. Police and/or Fire Departments. Courts. Health. Safety. Etc.

Towns have become desperate for money and have resorted to adding new fees for services, raising the price of existing fees, and sending the police out to give more tickets with creative license, so the officials can't be pegged with the accusation of "raising taxes".

[cloudbase]

10. Enact legislation

requiring the taxing authority to purchase the home at its assessed value at the option of the homeowner. Something like that might put an end to unrealistic valuations. This would NEVER happen in a state that doesn't have initiative and referendum, though.

[Igel]

11. The reverse phenomenon, just as "wrong", is praised.

People love it when their house price goes up and they sell for more than the appraised value. They hate it when their house's value goes down and they sell for less than the appraised value.

When the value goes down, appraisals lag; same for when they go up. If the first is unfairly screwing homeowners out of money, the second is unfairly screwing local government out of money.