I am now $2675 poorer-just paid my property taxes.

[hobbit709]

$200 more than last year.

[NOVA_Dem]

1. Is that for the 1st half of the yr or total? n/t

[hobbit709]

6. 2013

[Agschmid]

36. We pay 12k a year here...

Outside boston.

[MADem]

40. Ma taxes are pretty egregious, especially near Beantown.

If you're within commuting distance, it's pretty brutal.

[Agschmid]

42. Thirty minutes outside...

So yup!

[yeoman6987]

53. 7500 in Arnold, Maryland (Suburb outside of Annapolis)

I would love paying 2600 a year. lol.

[Bandit]

65. What is your millage rate there?

Ours is right around 10 mills here.

[hobbit709]

66. School district is 1.242, city is 0.502, county is 0.494, hospital is 0.129, cc is 0.095

The school taxes have quadrupled in the last 20 years as the state funds less and less and requires more. Just so the bastard Rs in the lege can claim they didn't raise taxes.

[arthritisR_US]

2. Where do you live? I pay mine monthly and

per year it comes to $2400. What is the value your city estimates your property at?

[hobbit709]

7. They're trying to tell me it's worth $122K. More like $100K

Paid $36K and taxes were $400/yr in 1990

[arthritisR_US]

22. Wow! Mine is $450K so your city's taxes are ridiculous.

[NOVA_Dem]

39. That's a BIG tax bill for the value of the property. n/t

[bluedigger]

3. Congratulations on being a property owner.

I'm hoping to pay my car registration this month myself. It's a three payday month. so that helps.

[The River]

4. Taxes are the price we pay...

"Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society" Oliver Wendell Homes Jr. ~1904

It's also the motto engraved over the door of the IRS building in DC.

I just moved to a high tax state and am more than happy to pay extra
for the services and infrastructure that make it a great place to live.

It's how we spend our tax revenue that's open for serious debate.

[madokie]

19. Our taxes when up almost 200 bucks this year

I don't mind paying taxes, I just wish the rich and corporations paid their fair share.
I'm old enough to remember what it was like when the top tax rate was close to 90 percent. The country was doing a lot better then, infrastructure wise that is.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

29. $3600 where I live

And where I live the closest police are an hour away, the fire department is all volunteer, the school only has 8 kids in it (everyone else homeschools), everyone is on well water and the roads get graded maybe once a month.

So much for civilization.

[Eleanors38]

46. Boy, I'm civilized as hell: $5,800 (reduced from 6.8 cause I'm 65).

In Austin, prop. Taxes are thundering due to the tens of thousands pouring in here. Lots of exempt prop, no income tax, and a city which promiscuously waives tens of millions in fees to devolvelers. Than god I got the warranty deed and offers of "name your price." But that is of little value in the mean time.

[Ron Green]

5. I pay about $2000 more than you,

but no sales tax. I'm happy to pay my taxes, and it reminds me to participate in local politics and government.

[Shrike47]

32. Ditto. Are you in Oregon?

[Ron Green]

50. Yep.

[n2doc]

8. but....but....no income tax!

When I lived in Texas I was always told it was a low tax state. That is , unless you own non-ranch property and buy things.

[Eleanors38]

47. Yep. You got that right.

[REP]

9. Wanna trade?

$8,472.45

[hobbit709]

10. I won't live in places where the ground moves or the mountains smoke.

I've experienced both and no thanks.

[Tikki]

11. Will the ground hasn't moved here in 20 years and I won't live where humidity matches temp...

every stinking Summer.

ps…plus my property taxes for two homes on acreage nearer the Pacific Coast is $1,800 a year.


Tikki

[hobbit709]

12. Ground here hasn't moved in a few million years.

How do you get 105% humidity?

And when it goes that long without moving it moves big time.

[Tikki]

13. I suppose 100% humidity is a good place to stop...

We lived in Louisiana a bit…humidity is wet and all….

The Tikkis

[REP]

17. I've lived in seismic zones all my life

I was born in the New Madrid seismic zone but the weather is much better here (and more prepared for seismic events). I'm not a fan of very hot or very cold weather.

[Tikki]

20. It is pretty much the humidity that does it for me….The constant sticky feeling and the heat...

and even sticky and cool some times of the year.

I really like the temperate climate I live in. My doctor reminded me how this weather is a better
experience for me with my arthritis.

Tikki

[Eleanors38]

48. Jesus, no wonder legalization is spreading!

Ba-dum, shhhh !

[Logical]

59. Lol, that is low! nt

[cyberswede]

14. We have our taxes placed in escrow every month as part of our house payment.

It hurts less to spread it out over 12 months.

[Gothmog]

27. I refinanced and cut out PMI and the escrow

I get to deduct taxes since Texas does not have a state income tax and so I paid my taxes before year end.

[Agschmid]

37. That is the way I will be doing it...

[NutmegYankee]

15. Wow. That's really cheap!

$4200 for a 1500 sqft house.

[oldhippie]

16. Just paid mine today also ....

..... $4433 for my 2000 sqft home in Central Texas. About $100 more than last year.

[Shoulders of Giants]

18. $1231 a year for me

But its in my monthly escrow, so i pay around $100 a month or so towards it. But I make $1,050 a month as a grad student intern so even that amounts tough.

[firsttimer]

21. Feels great doesn't it ? something you will never be able to own

[CFLDem]

23. +1

[curlyred]

44. Do you use any services that your property taxes pay for?

Just asking. County roads, maybe? County sheriff?

If your property taxes go primarily towards education, as mine do, did you have kids in school at one time? If you did not, do you give a shit about educating kids today so society doesn't go to hell?

[Earth_First]

24. I'll trade you...

We are roughly 50% higher on a 1000 sq. ft. home in a semi-rural suburban community outside Rochester, New York...

[Logical]

43. Someone has it worse than you also. n-t

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. I pay about that much annually but in monthly [payments, rather than all at once

Mortgage company bills the prop taxes with the mortgage payment.

[FreeJoe]

26. I accrue

My property taxes were a bit over $9,600 this year. I deal with it by setting aside money in my savings account each month and adding an accrual entry so that when I check my balances, I see this money as having already been committed. This way it doesn't hit my like a single large payment at the end of the year.

Incidentally, that's up about 8% over last year, but still lower than it was in 2010.

[panader0]

28. I thought I owned my land and house (all paid off)

I just lease it from the government. Taxes are my main bill.

[seveneyes]

30. Limited retirement income and seniors should get a large break on property taxes

Seniors should be able to live as comfortable as possible in their last years. Set a lower limit of income and let the young and rich carry the heavy loads.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Arkansas has a law like that

Amendment 79 provides for a cap on the assessed value of a homestead owned and occupied by a person age 65 or over, as well as a $300 tax credit for all people who own and occupy a homestead in Arkansas.

[seveneyes]

33. Nice to hear

More states wising up or even a federal law to enforce it would be great.

[Art_from_Ark]

35. There are 4 main benefits of Amendment 79

1. A tax credit of up to $300.00 on real property that qualifies as
the owner's homestead used as his/her principal place of residence.

2. A 5% per year limit on the amount of increase in taxable assessed value in a
homestead resulting from a reappraisal.

3. A 10% per year limit on the amount of increase in taxable assessed value in non-
homestead real property.

4. Caps for 65 and older and disabled. A prevention of the increase in assessed value of
a homestead used as the principal place of residence of an owner 65 years of age or
older or an owner who is 100% disabled.

[Warren Stupidity]

57. In NH you have to be dead from starvation to qualify.

The limits appear to have been set around 1920.

[Kaleva]

34. My winter property tax bill is $137

With summer property taxes, the total for the year is just under $500

[MineralMan]

38. Was that a surprise?

[Logical]

41. And?? nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

45. I am sorry you are getting bit of the "You think THAT's bad" treatment...

from our fellow DUers.

The appraiser in me has read through the thread, and I encourage you to get an appraisal from a reputable appraiser (you can check licenses etc) and fight it if your assessed value is 20K more than what you think the home is worth. Do your homework, check recent sells, get that appraisal and fight. Reasonable claims are more often than not adjusted these days after the "fake bubble" rupture.

[hobbit709]

55. the problem here in Austin is that all property is overpriced.

At a 122K I'm lower than most of my neighbors. They're yuppifying the crap out of all the old neighborhoods.

My lot value is 90K of that.

[Silent3]

49. My property taxes went up almost $95/month

They were already damned high to begin with, but now nearly $10K/year.

Of course, since this is NH, with no income tax and no sales tax (well, except the "rooms and meals" tax, at 9%), property tax is where a big chunk of the state's money comes from (fed indirectly through the towns and cities that collect them).

Given that I expect to pay most of my non-federal taxes via property tax, I've never bitched too much about my property taxes before, but this last increase got my attention. According to the letter the city sent out with the tax bill, this last reassessment lowered some people's taxes, left many people's around the same, and the increases they talked about weren't normally as big as ours. I still have no idea why we are way, way at the high end of this increase compared to the rest of the city.

I keep meaning to ask about that and look into a re-assessment. I should get off my ass and just do it.

[Notafraidtoo]

51. Thank you

For supporting public education and allowing us to live in a mostly civilized society, sounds like a good deal to me.

[JustAnotherGen]

52. Agreed - $7556 here

60% goes to the public schools in our community.

[Madam Mossfern]

54. Close to $21,000

I can't retire, just so we can pay the property taxes. We're in New Jersey, about a half hour from the tunnel to NYC. Not such a big house, but an acre of property. I've considered moving to a lower tax state, but we brought up our children here and it's HOME.

Right now, with ice on the inside of the bedroom windows, I'm starting to rethink.

[Warren Stupidity]

56. Property taxes are based on an agrarian society where land=income.

They are absurd and regressive in an industrial society.

[TransitJohn]

58. The over-inflated real estate market is the result of collusion between

the real estate/developer market and local/county governments. They both have vested interest in 'values' being as high as possible. Here in the Denver area, a 2 bedroom starter home is a quarter million dollars.

[B Calm]

60. $600.00 a year here. 12 acres with 1970 ranch home, 2 garages and small barn.

With great schools!

[raccoon]

61. Move to a state where property taxes are low and the schools are crappy. nt

[hobbit709]

62. Schools are already crappy with the repukes in charge the last 20 years.

and what would the $120K-assuming I got appraised the value- get me anywhere else I would want to live. $952/mo SS doesn't get you very far. Here I have a paid for house, a paid for truck and what friends that are still alive. Can't stand the cold so I won't live up north. As I said before I won't live where the ground moves or the mountains smoke.

[Trailrider1951]

63. That's why I don't live in Austin

I just work here. I bought a house in rural Williamson County. The house was appraised at $103,000 in 2009. It is assessed at $98,000 for tax purposes. Total taxes paid for 2013: $1750. Sure my commute sucks, but I'm about ready to retire, and with my total mortgage payment at $650 a month, including taxes and insurance, I can afford to retire. I'd pay more than $650 a month for a decent one-bedroom apartment in Austin.

[hobbit709]

64. Taxes and insurance is all the house costs me. Mortgage was paid off 3 years ago.