[Chat] prop tax

Joshua Fruhlinger jfruh at jfruh.com
Fri Jul 8 14:48:39 EDT 2011


OK, so I just looked at my own email and realized that was way too complicated an explanation.  Here's a simpler one:

Your property tax bill is EITHER 2.268 percent of the assessed value OR 3 percent more than you paid the previous year, whichever is LOWER.   If you've lived in your house since before the property bubble, your assessment probably went up very fast in the mid '00s and then came down a somewhat (but not back to the original level) in the late '00s/early '10s.  So for many people, even if the assessment has gone done, a 3 percent INCREASE over your previous year's bill is still going to be LESS than 2.268 percent of that reduced assessment. Basically, the taxes you've been paying still haven't caught up to your assessment, and will keep increasing 3 percent a year until they do.

(Note that I'm not sure if 3 percent is the exact value, but it's something close to that if not.  And this only applies if you live in the property we're talking about -- that's why it's called the "homestead tax credit" -- and if you were living in it the previous year.  The first year you own the house, youpay 2.268 percent of the assessed value, and that's your baseline going forward.)

jf

On Jul 8, 2011, at 2:13 PM, Joshua Fruhlinger wrote:

> If you're getting a homestead tax credit, your tax can only go up a little bit every year (I think 3 percent) as long as you stay in your home.  But it will go up that amount until it hits the amount you'd pay without the credit.  After the housing bubble in the mid-'00s a lot of property's assessed values went up so fast that people with the tax credit never caught up.
> 
> For instance:
> 
> Say in 2006 the assessment of your house doubled from 100K to 200K.  Your theoretical tax would go from $2,268 to $4,356. But because of the homestead tax credit, your actual tax can't go up more than 3 percent a year.  So in 2006 you'd owe $2,336, in '08 $2,406, and in '09 $2,478.
> 
> Then in 2009 they reassess your value down, from 200K to 150K.  Now your theoretical tax drops from $4,356 to $3,402.  But because of the homestead tax, you aren't paying anywhere near even that reduced amount.  So the tax you actually pay in practice in 2010 is still a three precent increase -- $2,552. Your actual tax bill would only go down if your house lost a lot more value -- if it were assessed at less than $112,500 or so, with these numbers.
> 
> jf
> 
> 
> On Jul 8, 2011, at 1:59 PM, jberlin wrote:
> 
>> Have many people received property tax bills higher than last year even with the lower property assessment?
>> 
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