Posted on 05/14/2007 6:13:57 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s
When Melissa Nolen first saw the sky-high property tax bill for her new home, she got nervous.
The next year, when her homeowner's insurance doubled, she got mad.
These days, 29-year-old Nolen is trying another tactic: Getting active. She recently became vice president of the Broward County Young Republicans and is keeping a close eye on tax reforms being debated at the state Capitol.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
First let me say that property taxes are a license to steal. On the other hand they may the most practical way to pay for essential government services. Mind you, that is all they should be for. As we all know that is certainly not the case.
In answer to your question, yes.
The $800 was what I paid the last year I paid property taxes in Florida. My tax escalation was relatively slow because the assessed value was frozen the year the amendment went into force, and was limited to 3% per year. Now, there is/was no limit as to how much the various taxing authorities that collect property taxes can increase the millage rate.
The county and city are spending far too much money, and a lot of that money is spent on stuff that should not be the purvey of the local governments.
I especially like the sales tax approach because we are so dependent on non-residents and it’s one way to spread the cost of government around.
Truth is, I would much rather see government go back to doing only the things it was originally intended to do and stop expecting us to pay for every wild hair it gets!
That is indeed the question of the times we live in. It would be a real eye-opener for the newspaper to print a line item budget for a county the size of the bigger counties in Florida. It would shock us to know some of the silly things our government is paying for. Their attitude is that because it’s not ‘their’ money that it doesn’t matter. Nothing is a dangerous to us taxpayers as the OPM (other people’s money) mindset that government exhibits at every level.
The answer is not more income for these imbeciles, but rather less, and I mean WAY less, out go!
I fear we are losing any hope of getting a handle on government spending from top to bottom.
Property taxes are government rent.
it is a crime for two identical homes, side by side, to have one paying $800 and the other $2800 in yearly property taxes
You have two alternatives:
1) base taxes on purchase price, with reasonable COL increases over time.
or
2) base taxes on purchase price (which virtually always increase beyond COL).
In case one, you risk displacing long time owners who are now on fixed incomes. In case two, you anger those who have perhaps overstepped their affordability.
Which do you choose, or feel free to propose an alternative third method.
And what everyone fails to mention is why Prop 13 passed. People on fixed incomes, etc., who had owned their homes for many years were losing them because of escalating property taxes.
Any state without a Prop 13 type property tax cap has a license to steal.
And to those people who think it is ‘not fair’ because my property taxes are lower than theirs....bugger off, life is not fair! ;)
> No they arent selling it. They are securing a load (sic) with their property. Big difference.
The home owner is in effect “realizing” the (supposedly) increased value of their property. Once the property is put back into the economic realm, to be “fair”, it should be taxed at the recognized value.
Just my opinion.
And yes, the real answer is that less spending on the governments part would make the question moot.
The big problem with Prop 13 is that by allowing assessed basis to be passed along to heirs, it is in effect creating a “landed class”. Two generations is a long time.
That’s exactly what save our homes is. It can only increase by a amall percentage each year. I like it - I’m on a fixed income, and I can’t afford to suddenly have taxes jump.
When I bought my current house, I made my decison based on what I knew the taxes were going to be. They were twice what they were in my old house, and it almost kept me from moving. The new people who bought my old house saw their taxes jump from $600 to $2000. But they knew they would - on the county appraisers site, they have big red letters at the top warning if the taxes will jump substantially in a sale.
You know, that would be a great project for every willing newspaper and TV station- a weekly program detailing where the public’s money is going, all over the USA.
I can just guess what the FL legislature will do in order to bring “property tax relief” to younger people. They’ll want to raise the sales tax.
“Even though I benefited from it when I lived there, having owned my home for more than 25 years, it is a crime for two identical homes, side by side, to have one paying $800 and the other $2800 in yearly property taxes. Uh, yeah, the $800 was me.?”
You want criminal? my townhouse property taxes were $8300.00 in 2006, up from $6800 in 2005.
Where?
Bill From New Jersey.
I propose the third method should be the elimination of the "government rent".
When the law was passed the average value of a home was about $125,000 with an annual tax bill of $2,000.
Once home prices went up to an an average value of 300,000 with a tax bill of $6,000 the Jebster and his pals should have capped property taxes statewide at $6,000 per, but no, they stood buy and kept hiring more apparatchiks and kept spending while state and local tax revenues tripled and quadrupled and people buying new houses were socked with, 8,10, 12, and 14,000 annual tax bills.
Now a bunch of outrageous bastards are trying to say the people paying a normal tax rate are somehow to blame.
Governor Suntan is against the sales tax replacement of the property tax and "Portability" will be found unconstitutional by the crooks on the Florida supreme court.
The only rational solution is a maximum property tax of $5,000 on properties valued under a million dollars, state tax revenues to be cut to 1995 levels adjusted every year or inflation and thats it.
The crooked politicans in both parties love our money too much to accept that simple solution, they will pass some miniscule tax cut, declare victory and leave everyone wondering why they still have yearly tax bills between $10-20,000.
Are you kidding me? Real estate taxes around here are $25,000 and up. I'd be very happy to pay only $2,800/yr.
Changing the property tax appraisal system isn't going to magically give you $5,000 back every year. The government schools are still going to need to be paid for. They are just going to hike your other taxes instead.
My rent property taxes are $8,000 this year. 5 years ago they were $4,000. The public schools have been expanding by double digits every year, and are spending $14,000 per student. Doesn't matter which arm they put the needle in, if they keep this up they are going to kill the host.
That is armed robbery under color of law. Your tax bill is higher than my P&I, insurance and taxes. And I'll bet I probably have a bigger house. My God man where do you live??? Tokyo, Moscow or NYC?
And for those taxes you get some of the worst public schools in the nation, subpar local law enforcement (in many counties), and irregular public services.
NY State :)
Imagine what my RE taxes would be if we didn’t have 12 years of Republican (I mean, RINO) administration :)
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