Property Taxes Questioned As Prices Zoom

AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/22/05 | Robert Tanner - AP

[NormsRevenge]

"Government simply swallows the money and finds lots of reasons to spend that money."

[w1andsodidwe]

I remember when Proposition 13 was passed in California. I was young and living in an apartment. Friends living in the apartment house said, I am not voting for it because it will not benefit me, because I rent. I simply said to them, "I intend to own my own home. I am voting for it".

In retrospect, with the cost of housing through the roof, how lucky we are that we citizens had the foresight to vote for it.

[vaudine]

"...what gets shut down?"

An excellent start would be the Dept. of Ed. I would like to see a printout of allocated funds now, since the Ed. federal budget has become so gigantic. I guarantee little of it is getting down to the schools. With every increase in budget, a new layer of administrators is added at the top and a huge pay increase.

Schools could function so much better on so much less if PC and the NEA and federal govt. werre taken out. What is (almost)totally lacking in schools is attention to actual learning and skills--reading, math and analytical skills.

Yet the dumb, d@#m clueless dim Dems scream for more money, more money.

vaudine

[joesnuffy]

Here in the Doyle-Lautenschlagger Demcrat socialist state of WI we are being taxed out of our homes and our state...

imo

[.38sw]

the 1978 initiative that limited property tax growth to 2 percent a year.

And thank God for that. When you live in an area where home values go up 20-25% a year, you need a way to keep your property taxes from rising so much that you can't afford to live in your own home any longer.

[RightWhale]

The public school system eats about 75% of our local public budget. Although the budget has gone from $90 million a few years ago to $140 million now, the school district is having to lay off 60 teachers or other employees this year. We probably have something of a real estate bubble, but mostly in commercial land, and that might be affected by the transfer of 2800 personnel and 2000 jobs from one of the military bases over the next 5 years.

[Pessimist]

"limiting growth to 3 percent a year on all single-family, owner-occupied primary residences"

Gee, thanks! Why growth at all?

I live in Ohio, where jobs and population are both dwinlinding while housing prices are increasing. Not only are housing prices increasing, but taxation percentages are increasing too - so much so that I think we've entered the proverbial "death spiral".

Nonetheless, people vote in virtually every tax they put on the ballot.

???

[backhoe]

When you live in an area where home values go up 20-25% a year, you need a way to keep your property taxes from rising so much that you can't afford to live in your own home any longer.

Yep- since we moved in 1987, our taxes have quintupled... so our "forever home" has become our "how soon can we get outta here?" home.

And yes, the local government has grown like a tumor, spreading everywhere- but it's "for the sake of our children," so thus far the sheep ( AKA taxpayers ) are all too happy to be shorn.

[SoCal_Republican]

I am still stunned that Kali is the most conservative state for prop tax increases. Add that to no bugs and great weather and it makes it hard to leave. the bad news is that I have to put my prop tax savings into private school for the kids (worth every darn penney).

[MikefromOhio]

I live in Ohio, where jobs and population are both dwinlinding while housing prices are increasing. Not only are housing prices increasing, but taxation percentages are increasing too - so much so that I think we've entered the proverbial "death spiral".

Where are you at? Where my parents live on the eastside of Columbus, it has been nothing by explosive growth and population increases since we moved there in 1997.....

[Glenmerle]

Nonetheless, people vote in virtually every tax they put on the ballot.

That's because if it isn't your ox being gored, you don't care. And there are so many people who pay little or nothing in income tax and no property tax that they overwhelm taxpayers in sheer numbers. People who don't have a stake in anything force the rest of us to pay. A system set up and perpetuated by the Democrats.

[sgtbono2002]

I was complaining the other day to one of our County Coimmissioners that taxes would soon run people from their homes. He told me of a plan the county has that prevents that. he stated that in this county if a person cannot afford to pay their taxes they are deferred until after their deaths, meaning they can stay in their home until death and then the county steals the home from the heirs. Now isnt that a great plan?

[sharktrager]

Heck, the appraisal system most areas use is a joke.

In my county over 40% of people protest their valuation, and over 60% of the protests are immediately upheld. I was researching my own area and found the house next to mine, on the same size and type lot, built 6 months later, by the same builder, with more add-ons and over 20% more square footage, was valued by the tax appraiser at over 10% less than my home. Now, I'd like to think the fact the house is mine adds value, but for some reason I am having trouble believing it.

[KC_for_Freedom]

This is what drove the tax revolt and Prop 13 in California. It stopped the assessment rise by freezing the tax rate. They avoided the problem in TX by lowering rates so that property owners paid the same in tax before and a fter the assessment change

[DumpsterDiver]

Ted Harris, a 69-year-old retiree living on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, whose taxes climbed from $2,200 in 1990 to $12,000 last year.

After reading that I feel lucky to be in California and for having purchased my place back in the early 1980s.

$12,000? Yikes!

[longtermmemmory]

What we also need is a cap on the maximum budget allowed for these local governemnts.

There is no way government "services" have increased at the rate of property values. Of couse some democrat will make garbage men wear taxpayer funded tuxedos "for the children".

[dalereed]

"Friends living in the apartment house said, I am not voting for it because it will not benefit me, because I rent. I simply said to them, "I intend to own my own home. I am voting for it"."

Wrong answer, you should have said that if you don't vote for it any increase in property taxes charged on your apartment will be added to your rent bill including a profit added.

Thank god we passed Prop13, now all we have to do is defend it every year!

[Kieri]

In Michigan, we have the Headlee Amendment. It restricts property taxes to a small percentage or the rate of inflation, whichever is LESS.

There is, however, a HUGE loophole.

When you go to sell your home, the house is reassessed and the cap is removed. If you purchased your home in 1990 for $150,000 and its now worth $250,000, the SEV is bumped up to the higher level. Its a nasty shock to homebuyers and it builds up a lot of resentment when it comes to what your neighbors pay versus your bill.

Communities, cash strapped for school funds, are really pushing NEW housing developments because they aren't subject to the Headlee cap. My parents house, build two years ago, was found by the State assessor's office to have been overassessed (and overtaxed) by $40,000. New builds are cash cows in Michigan.

[Gunslingr3]

Yet the dumb, d@#m clueless dim Dems scream for more money, more money.

Democrats can't get all the blame anymore. People need to wake up to the big government Republicans. They have the House, the Senate and the White House. What they don't have anymore is an excuse.

[Tallguy]

You just knew something like this was going to happen when they started asessing homes at 'market value' and the reasessments started coming every 3 years (my county re-asesses 1/3rd of all homes each year).