property taxes

[daniel2]

Hi,

I am tired of property taxes going up. Are there ways to stop or lower them?

[hermione]

Do you live in the home you own? If so, you might be able to get a significant tax break by filing for a Homeowner Exemption. There are rules to who can qualify for it, such as you have to have been living in the house since Jan. 1st of the tax year, or something like that.

Other than that, I don't know if there is anything you can do. However, your property tax lowers when your home value decreases. Our property tax went down almost $800 this year because our market value decreased by 37%.

I wrote about this on my blog last summer: Dear Taxpayer: Good News! Your Property Tax Has Decreased … P.S. So Has Your Property Value

While it's bad that the market value decreased so much, I wasn't too heartbroken about paying $800 less because we could do with saving as much as possible at this time.

So, if you are desperate, do something to your house to lower its market value? If you're not planning to sell, that is.... JK. I don't think it's a good idea, and it might not work.

[starshard0]

You'll need an allodial title for your property. As I recall, they're only available in Texas and parts of Nevada. Basically it's the government saying that you own that land, free and clear, as opposed to just renting it from the government (which is essentially what property taxes are).

[frank]

Originally Posted by daniel2

Hi,

I am tired of property taxes going up. Are there ways to stop or lower them?

hi daniel
With the recession, there have been immense fluctuations and property tax assessments have become the buzz word among homeowners and investors. Check out: www.baltimorereia.com for information and join their association for more benefits.

[lucille]

You can contest your tax rate based on the value of your house if you think your being overcharged. But you have to be able to prove your house is worth less than the county is estimating it at. The price similar homes in the same area have sold for could be used to prove this.

Most states have some sort of owner occupied tax discount. Make sure you have that applied. In our state it drastically lowers your tax rate. Some states also give property tax discounts for seniors, disabled and veterans that are disabled. Usually the state treasurers office has information on their website about available discounts.

Our taxes will be going up in a year due to a vote to build another school. I was not happy because I don't think we need a larger building right now. I also had concerns about the vote being accurate since the superintendent that was pushing hard for this building was in on the vote counting. But I digress. You should ask at your county office why your taxes are high. They might be able to explain things added on that made the rates higher such as public works projects or school increases.

[Julie Rains]

Here's the drama in our town -- the county has done a huge reassessment of all properties, so everyone is to get a new, presumably much higher property value based on increases in the past 4 years. There is something in the paper about it everyday: the head of the appraisal system doesn't want all his work to go to waste and so wants to publish the new numbers; the other side says it's crazy to issue property tax revaluations with all the economic turmoil. According to the county website, the numbers will be posted in mid-Feb but obviously that didn't happen. I think they are preparing for the onslaught of angry taxpayers. My valuation has been fairly low, and I have enjoyed that but I am curious to see what they come up with and who will protest....just a side note:

yes, you can protest the value in order to lower them though that isn't guaranteed. You should be able to go to the county website and look at property valuations, yours and your neighbors and that could tell you whether your home is valued in line with your neighbors. I have never done this b/c mine was already low so I don't know all the details but you may need to get a formal appraisal done (though usually market appraisals are higher than tax values).

As everyone else mentioned, you might be eligible for a discounted rate and could investigate whether you qualify. Such info should be on the tax form or available at the county office.

[amyschiff]

My parents had a similar thing happen to them about a year ago-- every few years the county auditor comes around and reassesses property/home values presumably for the purpose of property tax adjustments. My parents flipped out when they received a notice of what the home was supposedly valued at because it was a huge jump and would really kill on the taxes.

The county set up times for people to meet with the county auditor if they objected to the new appraisal amount. My parents did that and they were able to get their home value decreased to a more reasonable number.

It seems strange to argue to get your home value lowered, but my parents knew there was no way somebody would buy it for the price it was appraised at and they're not planning on refinancing ever again.

[starshard0]

I'm sure you could do some kind of damage to your property to make it worthless. Of course then you're damaging your own property.

[makepurple]

I still don't understand why there is such law like this.

[tryingtobefrugal]

Having the value of your house go up does not raise your property taxes, so long as the increase is proportionate with everyone else's homes.

Property taxes are determined this way - the town/city/county determines its budget, $XX million. It then assesses all the houses. All the houses are assessed at some total amount, it then divides the budget by the total value to determine the tax rate - usually this is done in thousands - $NN per thousand. Then you are charged that tax rate against the value of your house. Taxes of course go up each year, since expenses go up and there is inflation, so the city/town/county budget will increase.

It's a common misconception especially with the huge fluctuation in property values that this suddenly increases taxes. Not true. If all the houses in my town doubled in value, the tax rate would be half next year - the town doesn't suddenly get twice as much money. In MA, towns are only allowed to raise taxes 2.5% each year - no more without voter approval. This 2.5% is applied to the total town budget, before determining the tax rate by dividing by the assessed values of the homes in town, not the tax rate (the $NN per thousand).

Now if my house gets reassessed and they see the huge addition / new siding, etc I put on and they value it MORE relative to my neighbors houses than they did at the last assessment, my taxes will go up.

So, how to lower your property taxes?

- Buy a smaller house or one that is less valued by assessors (older, or in a less desireable location)
- Don't bother maintaining your house so it will be assessed lower (of course this could bite you in the end if your neglect results in preventable damage).
- Move to a town/city/county with a smaller budget and thus lower tax rate relative to your current town.
- Get involved in town/city/county politics and express your wishes that they spend less money on roads/fire trucks, etc.