When property values go down, they raise taxes to maintain their revenue, which everyone except those crazy libertarians would agree makes perfect sense. When property values go up, they raise taxes because people can afford it, and the city deserves a little extra spending money for doing such a good job raising property values in the first place.
Where I live the mill rate (or whatever it is called) is adjusted each year so that the net property tax bill has been approximately the same from year to year regardless of whether assessments have gone up (mostly) or down (in the wistfully remembered past).
just as a statement for the record - taxable value and market value are rarely the same thing and taxable value is usually less. Yes, I know this is not always true but for the most part, when the market values on homes drop, it is rarely below the taxable value assigned by the respective counties. Just saying.
That does NOT mean that I don't think BOTH are horribly inflated - just that I don't think the reductions in market values has come anywhere near enough to make enough noise about (other than the "you are wasting MY damn money" which you should be doing already).
When property values go down, they raise taxes to maintain their revenue, which everyone except those crazy libertarians would agree makes perfect sense. When property values go up, they raise taxes because people can afford it, and the city deserves a little extra spending money for doing such a good job raising property values in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe system is just fantastic.
HA! .. Our taxes just went up!
ReplyDeleteProperty taxes may spike 24 percent
Indianapolis. IN
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770424042
This is only a little bit related to property taxes, but I found it interesting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/business/yourmoney/29view.html?pagewanted=2&ref=yourmoney
Junam
Where I live the mill rate (or whatever it is called) is adjusted each year so that the net property tax bill has been approximately the same from year to year regardless of whether assessments have gone up (mostly) or down (in the wistfully remembered past).
ReplyDeletejust as a statement for the record - taxable value and market value are rarely the same thing and taxable value is usually less. Yes, I know this is not always true but for the most part, when the market values on homes drop, it is rarely below the taxable value assigned by the respective counties. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteThat does NOT mean that I don't think BOTH are horribly inflated - just that I don't think the reductions in market values has come anywhere near enough to make enough noise about (other than the "you are wasting MY damn money" which you should be doing already).