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Property Taxes

Started by Gilman, August 30, 2005, 04:29:17 PM

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Gilman

My property taxes went up 16% this year.  I have no plans in selling,   >:( >:( >:(

The good news is the county auditors are lazy.  8) They are supposed to do a drive by visual inspection once every five years.  I've been here for seven.  Some how they haven't noticed a 1,500 ft^2 building with 12' ceilings located 15' from the street yet.  :D  The shop (which is why I bought this house) has been here since '88.  To the county the current value of the shop is $0.00  8) 8) 8)

Maybe they aren't doing their driveby inspections?   :-\
WM LT70, WM 40 Super, WM  '89 40HD
Cat throwing champion 1996, 1997, 1999. (retired)

SwampDonkey

My cousin Norm works in the tax assessors office. He's an appraissor. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ron Wenrich

Our state is talking about doing away with property tax.  They want to put a 5-6% sales tax on everything but doctors and medicine.  Too bad the math don't work out.

The last my place was appraised was in 1977.  Living off the main road has some benefits.  Besides, our county is too cheap to do an appraisal. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Gilman

Pender,
If I told you a local laama farmer fell into a honey bucket parked across the street, I'd bet you'd know at least one of them.  ;)
WM LT70, WM 40 Super, WM  '89 40HD
Cat throwing champion 1996, 1997, 1999. (retired)

Roxie

According to my assesment, I have one less room, and no basement!   ;D
A quick call to my attorney and I asked, "Do I have to tell them, or have this corrected?"  He said, "You cooperated with the assesement, you don't have to say one word.  It's not your fault their assesor can't count"   ::)
Somehow I don't feel the least bit bad about that!   :-X
Say when

pigman

Since 1978, when I built my house, according to the tax appraisor my house  has grown about 30%. :o Last year when the  the appraisor was here I found out why. He measures to the outside of the shrubs and the shurbs have grown alot in the last 26 years. ::)
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

Paschale

In my town, the assessor was going door to door with a tape measure, and they want to do a visual inspection inside as well.  The grubby little buggers are after as much money as they can get, and my taxes have already gone up each year.  I've been gone most of the summer, so I missed them and was supposed to set up an appointment--the either do an appointment, or assess things strictly from the outside.  I don't know what the smart thing to do is.  My basement is pretty much torn apart right now because I had water leaking in--perhaps it would help lower my assessment if it looked realy trashy down there.   :D
Y'all can pronounce it "puh-SKOLLY"

Gilman

The kind on wheels that has a big vacuum pump.  ;D
WM LT70, WM 40 Super, WM  '89 40HD
Cat throwing champion 1996, 1997, 1999. (retired)

CHARLIE

In Olmsted County Minnesota the assessor doesn't have to do an inspection. They base the value of your home on what the homes around you are selling for.  I built a home in Dover in 1996 and it was the only one on that street and a cornfield across the street. By 2004, when I left, the street was full of houses and the cornfield was gone and new houses going up.  So the assessor just kept raising the value of my home every year.  I couldn't even sell it for what they were assessing it for. >:(   When I bought my home here in Wisconsin, I wasn't here more than a month when the assessor showed up.  He revalued the house upward which means......higher taxes for me. >:(
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Ron Wenrich

Assessor can only assess crom the outside of the property in PA, unless you allow them in.  There are some people who don't fix up the outside of the house, but have a really nice inside.

For years, I had an old outhouse, that was assessed at $0.  I left it stand as being the only tax free building on the property.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Cedarman

Our assessor finds every thing possible.  Cows, dogs, 4-wheelers etc.  Nobody escapes. The upside is that our tax rate is one of the lowest in the state because no one gets by.  Also, the actual taxes I pay is 1/2 what it would be in the next county south. 
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

SwampDonkey

I have 3 out buildings here that got lumped into a farm tax releif program years ago. Now that the farm is sold they aren't part of that and they have them assessed for more than they are worth. They are basically just shells surrounded by recycled aluminum roofing. Funny how siding on a shack increases it's value by several magnitudes. :D :D :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

DonE911

My house in S FL was torn down by the hurricanes, so there is no value in it anymore.  I called to advise them there was no house anymore and I would not be paying such a high tax this year.  Well they gave everyone a huge break on property taxes regardless of actual damages so they would not have to reasses every property in the county.  I still don't think I got a fair shake, but the tax bill is low enough and seeing It will be sold in the next few days I wont have to pay the full tax anyway.

I had added on 2 rooms to the house, a deck and a small shop/barn. They never knew it so I guess its all working out in the long run.

Tom

Tax assessors here will come onto your property unannounced.  I just got hit with an increased tax bill, plus penalties, for equipment that he saw and "assumed" was part of the business, when it wasn't.  I was told that I was sent a letter last February, but I never received one.  They don't care because it's up to me to prove that I didn't get it.  :-\  They "may" let me contest it,but, that doesn't help for this year because "it's already been assessed".

The problem with letting them get away with assessing taxes that you don't owe is that 1. it re-enforces their thought that you are here for their benefit, what you have is theirs first and you are just allowed to use it.   2. It sets a precedent for the inequitable value of the property that you or the next owner will not be able to fight.

There really are people in this world "the have not's" who are at war with "the have's".   They don't understand why your stuff can't be their's too.  Unfortunately, a lot of these folks end up in Government jobs, holding the reins on the population.  I would be almost willing to bet that the assessor who ignored my Posted and No Trespassing signs, lives in an apartment and probably owns nothing but a TV and a bunch of Automobile payments.

SwampDonkey

I here ya Tom. I have seen some people get these government jobs and wonder how such an individual worked that one. They seem to hire the ones that need programing each day to function. I've seen people having to work seasonal jobs for government and this clown out of no where with little experience gets the full time job.

Ok, I'm going off topic. :D :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

DonE911

Tom,

You need one of the solar operated gates and a mean dog ;D ;D

That'll keep them from seeing anything.

Tom

Actually, I don't mind them seeing anything.  I try to stay as legal as i know how.   I don't even mind paying taxes as long its my fair share and not someone else's idea of how I use my possessions.   

These guys are sneaky anyway.  They check on new construction and then use binoculars to check out surrounding backyards that they can't get into.  I understand that they have been using overlay aerial/satellite photograpy for years.  It has been rumored that there is a fly-over about every 6 months.  I don't know, but it sounds like something they would do.

What I have the biggest gripe about is their trespassing and the assumption that they knew what was mine and what wasn't.  They are in a win-win situation.  If I don't challenge them, I see the loss next year too.  If I do challenge them, I'm responsible for proving everything and still probably can't recoup this last year.

DonE911

Tom I seriously doubt they are using any arial photography to assess anything to do with property tax.

A study like that is extreemely expensive.  We tried to use arial photography to improve the county maps and as an overlay to GPS surveying for all county services, although we only cared about public safety, all county agencies had to be involved to even consider it do to cost.  Could not afford it to be done, so they did the same thing they had always done, they bought a copy from one of the big Map Making companies and trying to adapt that to make an accurate map. They took photos of the outside of every home from the road and started to feed it into the map as another computer overlay, blueprints ( if available ) as an overlay, city utility locations as another and so on.

I understand trying to do your part completely, but there is no harm in the assesor making an appointment to see your stuff.  If you ( in interest of your personal security ) make it nescesary for them to do so then I'm sure you'd be sorry very for the inconvienence. ;D

pigman

Two years ago when my sister lived in Texas she got a tax bill for over $70,000,000.  :o  >:( She called to report the error and was told she had to pay the bill  since she did not appeal the assessment. She said the original  assessment was correct, but there was an error in the taxes.  It took a trip to the office to finally find some one to look at the records and find the error. I suppose they thought a little old retired lady own a really big house. ::)
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

Ernie

I guess we are just lucky here, our property taxes (rates) are based on unimproved land value with some going to the local council and the rest to the regional council.  The only problem is that a lot of townies and foreigners are buying up the sea-view land for exhorbitant prices which pushes up the unimproved values.

A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

Tom

Ernie,
I don't know what the answer is.  I don't claim to have any answers for collecting money to run a government.  It just seems that the current Tax-what-you-own or Tax-what-you-improve methods are counter productive.    Everybody wants to get ahead, but, these methods cause people who are trying to better themselves or their conditions to either not improve or cheat.   That's especially in the part of the society that is trying to pull themselves up by their boot-straps.

There's gotta be another way. 

One good start would be for the Governments to quit living on a champagne budget.

I've thought that a solution here might be for property taxes to be made on unimproved land.  But, your scenario even limits that logic.
I've also thought that a tax on improvements, if need be, be made only one time and not penalize the owner every year.

It seems to be a penalty to charge owners of farm equipment, etc. every year for owning stuff that it takes to produce.

It's counter "our" way of thinking for a person to be taxed on a tax for anything.  Unfortunately, that went to the wayside many years ago.  I had a rude awakening when I found that my tangible property taxes were levied on the cost of the item and the sales tax I paid.  They consider the sales tax as part of the worth of the item.  A $30,000 sawmill is charged a sales tax, at 7%, of $2100.

That makes the Tangible Tax levied on an item with the worth of $32100, which can be depreciated to a bottom figure of 18%, never zeroing out.

It just looks like some smart fellow could figure out how a citizen can support his government and still own something. :-\

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