Posted on 01/12/2005 5:40:21 PM PST by alienken
Property taxes rising nationwide By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor NEW YORK - While fuel prices may be starting to skid, there's another expense closer to home that is upsetting many Americans: rising property taxes.
From Madison, Wis., to Bucks County, Pa., the local tax assessor is dipping deeper into homeowners' pockets as real estate prices rise and states share less of their tax revenue with local governments.
With people starting to receive their 2005 tax bills, the levies are squeezing the middle class and senior citizens - leaving them less to spend on everything from restaurants to roof repair. There is also concern the taxes could particularly hurt the home-buying chances of the young or civil servants such as firefighters. States such as New Jersey now have grass-roots efforts - verging on revolts - for reform.
"There is a property tax crisis," says Myron Orfield, a property tax expert at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "It's especially bad in states like New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, and Illinois, which are property-tax dependent."
Part of the problem lies in demographics and the rapid growth of exurban communities. Young couples who can't afford suburban homes have moved to "edge" communities further from the cities. Those are filled with children, and to educate them the communities have to jack up property taxes to build new schools and hire teachers.
"The property tax system accelerates the sprawl," Mr. Orfield says, "and communities are competing for the few [taxable] businesses."
The changing demographics have combined with an unusual economic phenomenon: home prices climbing at double-digit rates in some areas. This would make homeowners happy, except that an increasing number of communities are now assessing property values every year.
(Excerpt) Read more at clouttexas.com ...
$7000 here thanks
It is just not in Texas, it is everywhere. Wht is happening is our elected officials think they are royalty.
BIG OLD HOUSTON BUMP!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL
Yes you are right.
Just another example of the communistic progressive taxation. Hardworking homeowners are getting the shaft because they work hard to get a home.
We own our home for 15 years, we paid $98K and it's been appraised for $135 heck where are those appraiser that will appraise my home for $500K send them to my home ASAP!!
It's all the same. State legislators cut income taxes, they make spending "cuts" by cutting state aid to cities and towns. Cities and towns respond by raising property taxes. No tax cut in the end, only a shift in taxes from people with more income than property to people with more property than income.
In the immortal words of Beavis and Butthead, "This sucks. Change it."
God bless Howard Jarvis.
People who rent end up paying higher rents, too. Landlords aren't stupid--they pipe the costs through to the tenant.
The real losers here are senior citizens who aren't getting raises each year to pay the taxes on homes they thought they'd paid off.
If only everybody in the Houston area were as upset about their property taxes as they are about that new stupid towing ordinance, maybe we would get somewhere in this battle.
Everybody in Texas: please join CLOUT!
They will not stop til we do something drastic.
Check out http://www.ksevradio.com for listing of state reps..These are career politicians. Let's call them and remind them who they answer to.
Yes like vote from the rooftops. At that point, anyone who gets truly revolutionary will just be tossed in jail and denounced as a right wing nut. Government at its finest.
Montgomery County Maryland... property assessments are being raised 69%. I would add however that it's to pay for shortfalls from Federal Government cutbacks. Therefore I consider it a good thing. When taxes are LOCAL you can fix it by a) moving away to a more reasonable county or b) changing the local government.
Good point, so the progressive tax strategy just sucks for everybody. Go figure.
"There is a property tax crisis," says Myron Orfield, a property tax expert at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "It's especially bad in states like New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, and Illinois, which are property-tax dependent."
Part of the problem lies in demographics and the rapid growth of exurban communities. Young couples who can't afford suburban homes have moved to "edge" communities further from the cities. Those are filled with children, and to educate them the communities have to jack up property taxes to build new schools and hire teachers.
"The property tax system accelerates the sprawl," Mr. Orfield says, "and communities are competing for the few [taxable] businesses."
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200207/22_olsond_growth/
To sprawl or not to sprawl
By Dan Olson
Minnesota Public Radio
July 22, 2002
Finding room for nearly one million more Twin Cities residents is one of the controversial items on the Metropolitan Council's agenda this year. Projections show the region's population will grow by more than 900,000 people over the next 30 years. State Sen. Myron Orfield, DFL-Minneapolis, wants the Metropolitan Council to adopt a plan that will more tightly control the sprawl.
(snip)
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