Property-Tax Frustration Builds; States, Cities Revise Strategy As Homeowners Protest...

[Purveyor]

Source: Wall Street Journal Online

Falling home values and rising property taxes in many parts of the country are generating the loudest complaints about property levies since the 1970s, forcing state and local officials to address the outcry even as the housing-market slump eats into many sources of their revenue.

Indiana residents held public protests this summer against a surge in property taxes and acted on their frustration by ousting the mayor of Indianapolis. Florida voters will decide next month whether to adopt massive property-tax cuts, in a debate that has pitted part-time residents against full-time Floridians.

In California, thousands of homeowners are having their assessments reduced under a decades-old state law, and lower tax revenue due to the weaker housing market is likely to force an emergency budget session.

Falling real-estate prices and turmoil in the mortgage market are expected to reduce property values for U.S. homeowners by a total of $1.2 trillion next year, according to Global Insight Inc., a research-and-consulting firm in Lexington, Mass.



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119794186980635629.html?mod=politics_primary_hs

[Robbien]

1. Complaining doesn't help much though

Or it doesn't here in my county where big spender Mayor Daley reigns.

RE taxes are skyrocketing but Chicagoland citizens complaints are being ignored. Huh. Not surprising, as if Daley would ever be ousted.

[davsand]

12. Chicago has its own set of property tax laws.

Literally, the Illinois Property Tax Code is written with a different set of laws for Chicago. I will tell you that even if you can't get anywhere with the Cook County Board of Review you can still file with the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board if you are willing to do the leg work on it. The main question you need to be able to prove is "What is your property worth if you sold it today?" PTAB usually will accept a recent appraisal as evidence, and it might save you money to have one done.


The amount of your property taxes in Illinois is dictated by two factors. One is the market value of your property and the second is the amount the taxing bodies are asking for. I can't even begin to help you with the amount the taxing bodes are spending because that is what the "Levy Body Hearings" are for--as a taxpayer you can attend those and make your feelings known. The value of your property is something that you CAN address.

You can PM me if you need more info--I'll be happy to help walk you thru it all.



Laura

[cloudbase]

2. I religiously contest the appraised value

before the appraisal board, and have never failed to obtain a reduction in appraised value.

[EVDebs]

3. 1977 redux. Here in CA 1.25 percent of the sale price is the basis of the prop tax

which then can increase 2 percent annually. When the valuations go down however, you can request a re-appraisal. You can only go where the money is to tax it so who has the money ? The wealthiest offshore and hide most of their $. Just read David Cay Johnston's book Perfectly Legal.

Things will change. Slowly. Even Warren Buffett knows that corporate taxes need to increase. Or else.

[olddad56]

6. in Ca. be careful with requesting a reassessment

my friends have owned their home in Placer county Ca. for a long time. They bought at a high point around 1990. Then home values went down. They requested a reassessment and had their property taxes reduced. Then when the value of their property skyrocketed, the county reasessed them again and their taxes increased by a few thousand a month. I was told by my friend that the county's ability to reassess was based on the fact that they had requested a reassessment in the past. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Gormy Cuss]

9. The reduced assessment provision was established by Prop. 8

and it allows for a temporary lowering when prices are falling. The law stipulates that the county must check the market valuation each year and when the market value exceeds the value it had before the adjustment, the tax valuation is adjusted upward until it meets the ceiling allowed under Prop.13, which required that valuation be based on most recent purchase price plus 2% indexing per year.

For example, I buy a house in 2005 for $100,000. My tax valuation for 2006 is based on $100,000+ 2% indexing,or $102,000. In 2007 there's a major market correction and houses like mine are only selling for $50,000. Under Prop. 8, the county can make a temporary valuation reduction to $50,000.

For 2008 taxes, the county reviews the recent sales and determines that my house is still worth only $60,000 and my taxes are based on that.

In 2009, the market turns around and houses like mine are selling for $125,000. The county must now reset my tax valuation to the Prop.13 guidelines, which is based on my purchase price of $100,000 x 2% indexing each year for four years, or roughly $108,200 dollars.

[joeglow3]

10. NO TO INCREASED CORPORATE TAXES!!!

Increasing corporate taxes is the WORST thing you could do. These taxes are actually regressive as they get built into the prices of good and end up being paid by the people who cannot afford them. You are better off increasing the top marginal individual brackets.

[EVDebs]

14. Warren Buffett Urges Higher Corporate Taxes

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0306-01.htm

"Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934. Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."

Raise BOTH corporate taxes AND the top marginal individual tax brackets.

A return to an equitable tax system would be nice. Also, please read Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston along with Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips. The system is broken because lawyers and corporate interests have taken control of it for their benefit, not the general public's.

[NJCher]

4. we finally got some relief in NJ

I got a couple grand back. It really made a difference, too. I put it right back into the house--had some new sheetrocking done in my back stairwell and upstairs.

Property taxes in my area are around a grand a month for a middle-class home. My neighbor pays something like 26k, though, in property taxes.



Cher

[williesgirl]

5. Wow and I bitch about $6K/yr.

[ileus]

7. Our county taxpayers just suffered a 40% average increase for '08

I hope we can take our county back. All tax hikes should go to the people for a vote...

[Javaman]

8. so if property value goes down, does that also mean that the

property taxes, which are based on the value of the home, will also fall?

holding breath...running out of air...must hold breath

[olddad56]

15. and if property taxes go down, revenues go down and then they have to raise taxes

You can't win.

[mnhtnbb]

11. How about $7800. for a house that burned down in NC?

After our house burned down at the end of August, I called the county assessor and the response was "you pay the full amount for whole year regardless of whether the house burns down at one minute past midnight, Jan 1st".

At least they agreed to send someone out to re-assess the property for Jan 1 2008.

[davsand]

13. Is there no provision in your tax code for some sort of disaster abatement?

In Illinois, there is an abatement available for property that is rendered uninhabitable by some sort of disaster (like a fire, storm damage--any sort of major damage that leaves you unable to live in the property.) I dunno if other states have it, but it might be worth your time to look into you local laws on the subject.

FWIW, I just hate seeing those kinds of abatements come in because they ALWAYS represent somebody dealing with a lot of crap in their lives.




Laura

[mnhtnbb]

16. No abatement. You pay full amount assessed New Year's Day--even if house burns down

one minute after midnight New Year's day. Great deal, huh?