"Painting Your House" Tax?

[Darkhawk32]

My freeper brother-in-law was trying to tell me last week that New Yorkers are taxed for "painting their houses". I know New Yorkers are tax harder than most welfare states (e.g. Missouri, Alabama), but I didn't think they'd tax you for painting your house. How F.O.S. is my freeper bro-in-law?

[benburch]

1. In some places you have to buy a work permit.

I suppose that's a tax. And the paint would be subject to tax in NYC.

[Darkhawk32]

2. Kind of like an "environmental fee"? n/t

[benburch]

6. Sales tax is what I meant.

Some places might also want to inspect for lead paint chips on on the earth after a painting, and I imagine there would be a fee for that, too.

[Warpy]

3. That's true only if you hire a contractor and have staging erected.

Just going out and slapping paint on peeling trim and siding generally doesn't require any sort of permit, and the only tax one pays is the sales tax on the paint and other equipment.

[Darkhawk32]

8. So basically, my bro-in-law is an uninformed hack. Thought so...

but being the dutiful Democrat I am, I like to double-check my facts.

[HereSince1628]

4. Rural legend...fresh paint raises property tax assessment

I have no idea if this is true anywhere but I have lived in rural areas in three different states and I've heard it in everyone of them.

[notadmblnd]

5. it's always been my experience that any improvement

to the outside of the house ends up in higher assessments which result in higher taxes (we're taxed on the value of our homes) so it makes sense that painting your home would result in higher taxes.

[Darkhawk32]

7. He wasn't referring to increased property tax, but a direct tax ...

for painting your house.

[zalinda]

10. Not only are you not taxed, you can be fined

if your house is badly in need of paint. I know, I just painted my house last year.

zalinda

[Darkhawk32]

11. Please elaborate...

[zalinda]

12. I bought a hud house which was in need of a lot of work

inside and out. The city goes out and checks the neighborhoods periodically, for violations. If they see your grass is overgrown, abandoned cars, peeling paint, etc., it will get you a citation. The citation gives you until a certain time to fix those violations, if you don't fix them, you get a fine. If you refuse to fix them, the city comes out and does the work and bills you for them. If you don't pay the bill, it goes onto your property tax, so if you don't pay it, you can lose your house.

zalinda

[Darkhawk32]

13. That wasn't what he was talking about.... (see inside)...

My half-sister's other side of the family has an uncle that lives in upstate New York. My bro-in-law thought he heard that he gets taxed for the act of painting his house. The house isn't in ill-repute or in bad shape of any kind. He said that they got taxed when they painted their house simply because they wanted to change the color.

[zalinda]

14. No way, the only way that it COULD be possible

is if he is in a heritage community. In that case, the city has various rules in regards to properties that are historic, but I've never heard of anyone getting taxed for painting their house. If you think of it logically, it would make no sense. And county, city or state would not want their communities to have unpainted houses because then the properties would be devalued.

My neighbor is changing the color of his house and is not getting taxed. Many on my street have changed the color of their houses, because they were painted really weird colors. Most had been owned by investors and they painted the houses with whatever cheap paint they could get.

zalinda

[trogdor]

15. In that case, he is full of shit.

Of course, the day my sweat equity becomes a tax burden disproportionate to the cost of my landscaping projects is the day my front yard becomes a paintball park. Let EVERYBODY's property values go down the crapper, see if I care.

[oneighty]

9. Nonsense I think

We can paint up fix up without a fee without increasing property tax.

For construction which will change the structure of the house a building permit is required (About $75 more or less.) And if your property becomes more valuable it will be taxed higher.

Chautauqua County. New york.

When I lived in South Carolina every thing one owned was taxed every year. At one time out of sight 'in the house property', clothing and furniture values were estimated and taxed every year. Coupled with high sales tax I believe the tax in South Carolin is regressive and more expensive than in New York state. It is so because the poor people must pay too.

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