Swingman wrote in
:

On 8/3/2011 4:28 PM, Han wrote:
wrote in
:

That brings up a couple of good questions:

For property tax purposes, does a single family _primary residence_
that appraises at $500k derive correspondingly more benefit in
police, fire, roads, government, schools, etc. than one that costs
$250k?

If not, why should it pay proportionately higher property taxes for
the same amount of benefit?

Inquiring minds looking for a rationale

If you can afford a more expensive home,you can afford more
taxes.BIG GRIN

I'd assume (yesss) that a bigger home would have space for more kids,
more cars, more prisons, etc. So yes, a bigger home should pay more.

Why? ... they don't get any more services.

Suppose your "bigger home", of the same size and quality, is in Waco
where the appraised values for an equal sized home are half that in
Houston, but the government services those tax dollars provide are
equal, if not better?

I would argue that your assumption falls apart in that, very common,
scenario.

Property taxes are based on many things. Some may be the number of
plumbing fixtures, the amount of living space, etc.

Property taxes on primary residences are almost universally based on
"appraised value" in this country. Around here these appraisals are
done by a government instituted "appraisal district".

Among other things, creating an appraisal distrcit conveniently allows
elected officials to effectively circumvent "taxation without
representation" ... IOW, no longer can you hold an elected official
accountable for raising tax rates and vote him out of office. The
appraisal district, under the thumb of the government, sets the
appraised values, which almost always has the effect of increasing tax
revenue, without the inconvenience to an elected official of
increasing tax rates ... and, even during these tough times,
"appraised property values" have not fallen at the same rate as actual
real estate prices ... not even close.

My point is that I think it would be more equitable, and allow much
more power to the taxpayer (where it arguably belongs under our
Constitution), to base single family primary residences (very
important distinction here, your one and only "homestead" so to speak)
on a state wide "square foot" basis, instead of an easily manipulated
"appraised value" basis.

still based on "size", as in your first above ...

After all, most rural land has always been taxed on the former
principal, on an acreage basis, for decades ... a universally more
equitable practice, and allowing the citizen to actually hold his
elected representatives feet to the fire a la "taxation with
representation".

Another consequence (unintended or not) is that the system generated
built-in increases in revenue without elected officials having to do
anything, has certainly served to make it more convenient to increase
the rampant government spending we see at all levels.

I'm of the opinion that property taxes on primary residences are
becoming a crushing burden, to the point that, for all practical
purposes, you simply do not own your "home" any longer ... you are
renting it from the government. Stop paying those taxes and see how
long your "ownership" stands up ... and not the usurious "penalties
and interest" that make it almost impossible to recover from a
temporary setback in fortune.

Tilting at windmills, I know ... but it irks me how these things are
structured to take rights away from citizens, and without a whimper
from same, as most folks never "realize" their property tax payments
because it is handled like "withholding" from their paycheck.

I've been around too long, methinks ...

You're not really the curmudgeon you are pretending, Karl.

Problem with property taxes is those appraised values. On Long Island,
our home was appraised for about 10% of its price when we bought it, but
so were all homes. Huge cry for reappraisal, and then another one for
the huge increase in appraised value after the reappraisals. In reality,
it doesn't make a difference, as long as the same valuation methods are
used for all real estate.

Taxes are guessed at in NY and NJ through an attempt to figure out how
much money is needed to keep every civil servant busy, and most things in
town going alright. So they come up with let's say $100 million is neede
after state and feedderal help. Beautiful, they say. Now what is the
whole area's total appraised value? $10 million the assessor says. OK
the mayor says, then everyone should pay $10 per $1 appraised value, so
we get those $100 million. Wait, wait says the treasurer, we just
reappraised the whole town, and really we have $1 billion in appraised
value in total. Ok says the mayor, then everyone needs only pay 10
cents per $ appraised value. Think it through, they told everyone their
home was worth 100 times what it used to be, and taxes were reduced by
100 fold. But you would still pay the same amount regardless.

School taxes are a very big part hereabouts. So a town with good schools
is more expensive in that regard than a town with poor schools. (Graft
disregarded). In our little town of 17000, officials get the fire under
their footsoles with regard to moneys. Seems to run OK for the most part
....

--
Best regards
Han
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