I feel that the taxation of a residential property should be roughly proportional to the governmental costs of the services, such as public schooling, likely to be provided to its residents.
Everything should be Fee For Service. And it would be simple to “enforce”. Your insurance company would require certain things. You want insurance against theft, fire, vandalism, etc etc etc...You’ll get it all, anything you want, as soon as you show us where you paid for the cops, firemen, emt’s, etc. You don’t want to pay for the cops? Cool, if your house is broken into and they take everything down to the last spoon, you’re on your own.
No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn
If that won’t work then a simple math equation....Square footage x a defined multiplier.....everyone is taxed at the same rate. People on the lower end of the spectrum live in a smaller home, they’ll pay less taxes than the rich guy on the other side of town in a 4000sf home. Simple. Easy.
Taxes need to be raised, they’re raised for everyone. Not some arbitrary determination based on what they county appraiser and tax assessor thinks someone should pay and can afford, as happened to me.
When we look at our tax bills, everything is itemized. Some folks need to put a “little” more in the kitty to help those less fortunate to help offset some, I’m completely ok with that. But when the tax assessor wants more money and knows that they can’t raise the millage rate, all they do is miraculously tell you your house is worth more money. Complete and utter bulls*t. Then it’s up to you to challenge that estimate and show that it is in fact, NOT, worth all that money.
I was told after my hearing, that I would have to take the county to court, for a fee of $200 and......”I’d basically be suing my neighbors”.
I laugh when people are cheery that their assessments go up. Well, so do your taxes. And what are they going up for? So the town/city/county can steal more of your money for their pet projects.
First question....are there more services needed? No. Do you need more cops, firemen, EMTs, teachers? No. In fact the neighborhood has never been safer and the calls for service have gone down. Good, absolutely no reason for the increase in taxes.
“Square footage x a defined multiplier”
Taking the square root of the footage can be easily done by computer and I believe is fairer.
There is no reason why the property tax on a “low-income” rental property should be set below a rate that is fair to the community as a whole.
The owner/residents of a “low-income” apartment with $1,200/month rent can certainly afford to pay as much property tax as most single family home owners in their community do.
Homeowners in Bedminster, NJ should not be subsidizing Newark slumlords or their tenants.
“Square footage x a defined multiplier”
The building cost of a house really doesn’t go up by the square foot.
A 30’x30’ house has about 120 feet of exterior walls and about 900 square feet of space.
A 40’x40’ house has about 160 feet of exterior walls and about 1,600 square feet of space.
The length of walls went up by 33% but the square footage went up by about 77%.