Posted on 12/31/2007 7:23:23 AM PST by shrinkermd
Article begins with some anecdotal accounts of budget problems in a variety of cities. Then there are these paragraphs:
"...The mortgage crisis cuts into tax revenue in several ways.
The most obvious victim is property tax collection. Homeowners in foreclosure don't pay taxes on time. And as foreclosures spread, property values drop -- dragging down assessments and collections.
To take one example: In wealthy Fairfax County, Va., property values were jumping 20% a year. Now values are flat or falling. The number of foreclosures has exploded, from fewer than 200 two years ago to about 4,000 this year. The resulting $220-million budget shortfall has officials warning of significant cuts in services, including spending on public schools.
"Instead of having a soft landing, we've crashed," said Edward L. Long Jr., a deputy county executive.
When the housing market is flat, governments also lose out on the many transaction fees tacked onto real estate sales. This revenue stream is down in several states, in a few cases by 20% or more.
Even more distressing to budget planners is the decline in sales tax revenue. If people aren't buying homes, they're not buying refrigerators and washing machines to furnish them. Nationwide, orders for durable goods have been flat for the last four months. (November saw the first slight uptick: 0.1%. Economists had been hoping for 2.2%.)
On average, states receive about a third of their revenue from sales taxes. So it hurts -- deeply -- when families don't have reason to splurge on the new sofa and coffee table that will make a just-purchased house look like home..."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
This explains several stories I have read recently about different states looking to close “tax loopholes.”
Falling property taxes is great news for homeowners. Of course, most local governments will simply raise the tax rate to make up for a drop in tax collections, and such higher rates will be with us even when properties start to appreciate again.
I do know that Fairfax County in particular has taken an interest in “updating” their home information for property reassessment.
ping
They can not do that in California under Prop 13.
Ptthtt! Fees? You ain't seen nothin.
Our People's Republic of Santa Cruz County, CA has just passed an ORDINANCE that they will enter private property without notice, warrant, or probable cause looking to cash in on permit violations. It's to protect the public health and safety you know. ;-)
What Fourth Amendment?
Things are slow down at the County Planning Department, but of course, it doesn't have a thing to do with the fifty grand a building permit costs these days. So these eminent thugs want a permit if you so much as change an electrical fixture, as if they even know what they're looking at. There are illegal granny cottages all over the county. It could end up as a blood bath.
If they can't get fees, it'll be fines.
—and a short two years ago the press releases were about how flush with money states and municipalities were————blah, blah, blah-—
I’m sure Proposition 13 will be ruled as having been “unconstitutional” when a lawsuit from the city or state is taken to their supreme court.
Liberal judges can always be counted on to ignore the law.
Gee, if the State didn’t start spending money like drunken sailors with the increase in tax revenues from the housing bubble (like the dot-com bubble before it), we wouldn’t have this mess would we?
What buffoons, all of them.
Accomack County did property reassessments this year. As of last Wednesday more than 2,700 appeals hearings had been heard. We are awaiting word of the scheduling of ours. Our assessment jumped from $39,000 to $96,000, yet a bank appraisal for refinancing showed a sale value of only $72,000 and our insurance company has us at $75,000.
It cost $1500 to change the zoning on a 10A. parcel from RA to TPZ. (which they required to continue the existing, long term use of the property) Pretty neat income.
In the 20+ years I’ve lived in Fairfax County, assessments have been updated every year. It’s all done via a computer database system based on “comparable” sales. In recent years, our assessment identifies the “comparable” sales it is based upon.
I fully expect our assessment to be flat or declining, along with most of the County, and I’m sure that the tax rate will increase to make up for the assessment decline.
Jack
It's the basic rachet effect that governments use to continually increase the scope and size of government.
Nor in Taxachusetts thanks to Barbara Anderson and CLT's Prop 2 1/2
I wonder, if there isn’t some legal way for the US to just completely dis-own Kalifourneeyah?? Wow...
If we do nothing for the next 5-10 years, Mexico will simply reabsorb it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.