How can my Taxable Value go up $1277 and my Assessed Value as well as my State Equalized Value go down $3500?? What does that mean for my taxes in 2008?

I've only had these line items go up and up previously.

 Does that mean that property values have dropped in your town? I never understand the tax accessments. Babs

It may depend on when the tax assessment was done. For example the last time we received our prop. tax bill I called the assessor's office because house prices have gone down a little bit - not drastically - but why would the assessment go up?

His reply was that the assessment was over a year old so it was based on a time when house prices were still rapidly increasing. Um, well, okay.

But I sure expect next year's to be lower!

I must be dense or something. Why the extreme difference between the state equalized value and the taxable value?

 I would call and ask for an explanation. Babs

 

Good luck in finding out something about your tax increase! Ours went up a few hundred dollars this year. When I called to find out why, I was told that since my neighbors probably had done some kind of improvement to their property it had increased the value of our property too. When I replied "That Sucks" the lady at the Courthouse said "Excuse Me" and I said slowly, "T h a t  S u c k s" and she said that we do have the option of appealing the increase, if we have had our property appraised we could use it to protest the increase. I replide that I have not had it appraised as I have no intentions or selling it, why would I have it appraised?

On a brighter note, our taxes didn't increase as much as a friends had, theirs went from about $98,000.00 to about $159,000.00 so I guess we shouldn't complain? That was the new appraisal value, not the tax amount. The taxes will be going up about $600.00 a year, just on the Real Estate. I am so thankful we don't live in a state that taxes for the schools in a separate tax, for in PA the taxes on Real Estate for just the schools is what I consider outrageous. That is why we still live in WV when DH works in PA.

DH tells people that we "lease" our property from the state every year, as long as we can pay our real estate and personal property we can keep our land and still live on it, but if we ever get to the place in our lives where we can't afford the yearly "lease" then the state will own our property, and we will have to move on, to where we don't know but on......

 

 In Vermont we pay a homestead/school tax. Mine is a little over $3600 a year. But there is a program, that if your tax is more than 5% of your income, you get a rebate. I think the % is higher if your income is higher. Babs