Posted on 06/11/2024 6:49:09 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
A senior from Montana has delivered a viral speech about the sorry state of property taxes in the Treasure State.
“I’m on Social Security, I’m 68-years-old and working just to pay my taxes,” says Kurt, in a clip shared on TikTok by Ryan Busse, who is running to be the next governor of Montana.
Kurt claims that over the last couple of years, his annual property taxes have soared from $895 to almost $8,000 — an increase of around 790% — which he says is like paying almost “$700 a month rent to the state to live in our own house.” The state has an Elderly Homeowner/Renter Tax Credit, and the maximum credit is $1,150.
“There needs to be a moratorium on what we have to pay,” he says, adding that he’s had to continue working into what should be his retirement golden years to cover his mounting property costs. “I’m stubborn enough [that] I don’t want to dig into my bank account to pay them.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I see this first hand here in Florida. I bought a house in 2022, the taxes were less than 1k a year for the previous homeowners who had lived in the house for over 20 years. So now in 2024, my taxes on the house are at almost 3k. Insurance went from 2k a year to 4k a year. So in 2 years the cost of the mortgage went up over 5k a year from insurance and taxes.
I’m paying in the $5000-6000 range here in Texas, even after the new law. It’s a backbreaker every year.
“Unless I missed it the article didn’t say how much the house is worth, which matters.”
Good point, I live in Gallatin County and am 4 miles from downtown Bozeman — it’s an expensive area, and it was expensive (compared to the majority of the state) when we built our <1,100 sq. ft. home in the mid 90’s.
Our property taxes increased up last year by 20%, now our tax bill is 1/2 of 1% of our home’s value.
Folks in the city pay a higher tax burden.
It’s likely this mans home is $1,500,000 in value...
Simply make a requirement that the property ca not be acquired from a younger near relative and must be held a certain time before eligible for exemption.
I doubt it would happen, but it should.
In Louisiana we have received property tax freeze for seniors who make under $100,000. Millages can go up, but your assessment is frozen unless you make a major improvement.
I just looked up my old address where I lived on the beach for 15 years, I got away paying $300.00 a month for my ancient beach shack with homemade windows and no screens, made of single layer boards, floor and ceiling, no studs, no insulation, just boards without heating or cooling since it wasn’t needed on the water in San Diego, it was where they had parked the carriage in the late 1800s and was very ‘Rockford files’ like in people marveling at how I could have such a choice place on the water, seemingly immune to codes and pricey real estate realities.
The new property owner finally got through the coastal commission process and got permission to build on the land and he built a nice house on it after tearing down my little shack, the 2023 property taxes on the house were $42,000.00.
I wonder what the owner of that house gets from the government that is so different from someone paying $2500.00 a month apartment rent in that community.
With no property taxes, who do you call when a fire breaks out in your kitchen?
Do property owners buy personal firetrucks?
Because most of them are biotches!
[F property taxes. We pay out the @ss while the illegals get everything for free. This is going to get really ugly and fast.]
If he lived in New York of New Jersey in many places h’d think at $8,000 a year he was getting a discount on his property taxes.
A nephew of mine in Westchester county nort of New York City calls his property taxes “another mortgage”.
If all localities were doing the things they should do - public safety, K-2 schools and public infrastructure, and little else, the local property tax burden would not be so great. But so many localities across the country are run by “Liberal” folks who think that just like the federal government it is their “duty” to take on many other things they should not. Also, the benefits - pensions and health insurance - for many localities top what their own local citizens can get in the private sector, yet the burden for the local government employees falls on the local property tax payer.
Totally sad but totally true!
I noticed the filthy politicians couldn’t pass the “moratorium” on evicting renters fast enough when they had the excuse of “covid.”
I noticed that New York has put “migrants” in a luxury apartment building.
I noticed that the slimey politicians love it when squatters seize and occupy a home that is legally owned by someone else, and have made it essentially a free gift to the squatters while the real owners get the bills and get to sleep in a tent.
I GET THE DISTINCT IMPRESSION that the sleaze-ball politicians are working hard to eliminate the middle class.
#taxationisslavery
“Insurance rates are skyrocketing everywhere...”
Yeah, no lie! My homeowners/property insurance was $6k this year.
A friend just inherited 1.5 acres that is assessed in 2 tracts. A 1/2 acre pond sits on .6 acre which is within the city limits of a small Texas town. The remaining .9 acre is in the county only and has a house on it. He got the assessment on the house last month which he thought was fair. He received the assessment on the pond yesterday which has him in a rage, it was $175,000.00. Because of a mail screw up which slowed down delivery the deadline to protest was last week.
“...what’s happened to the actual open market value of his place..”
Tax shouldn’t be based on open market value! It should be based on the actual budget needed to run the filthy government! Otherwise the bastards have license to endlessly increase tax as long as housing prices increase.
And if you have a mortgage, that means your monthly escrow payments go way up. And when you cut that check, it really doesn’t matter how much of it goes towards the loan, and how much goes towards the escrow, you still have to pay the full bill.
I’m from Montana, and I gotta call BS on this story, sight unseen. Property taxes have gone up more than I like but last year we received substantial tax breaks in the form of income tax rebates AND property tax rebates.
I’m gonna say there’s a lot more to this story (or a heckuva lot less) than you’d see in a campaign ad.
I’d guess some form of local government increases in taxes, fees, licenses all lumped into this story to make a campaign ad. For instance, I’m still fuming that my little town doubled the fee to dump stone from $20 a ton (which was steep but survivable) to $40 in one year. So when my field stone wall collapsed this winter, the disposal fee was more than $1400, and twice what it cost to hire a contractor to demo the carry out the stone.
The guy worked 2 days to take the debris away, and the city charged me that exorbitant fee just to doze it into a coulee. Non toxic, clean, no trash in it. Just rocks returned to the wild.
So. Be skeptical about this tale in a campaign ad.
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