The assessed value of real property is an annual determination of the just or fair market value of the property established by the Property Appraiser. Local officials value your property, set your tax rates, and collect your taxes. Homestead, over sixty-five, and disabled veterans exemptions are examples of partial exemptions, which reduce the taxable value on qualifying property.
The property tax, unlike any other form of taxation, goes on in perpetuity regardless of the property owner’s ability to pay the tax, undermining private property rights, a large and costly bureaucracy exists to appraise the taxable value of properties and oversee the payment of taxes by each property owner;
The property tax has so many exemptions and loopholes that the businesses and homeowners who do not qualify for any of the exemptions bear an excessive and undue portion of the total burden. Property tax rate cuts by the Legislature can be undermined and most generally are by appraisal increases or school district tax rate elections. So how can it be, then, in is this awful economic time, that property values continue to rise and along with them our property taxes.
If they spent the windfall on some new program. What happens when the property values go down, or when the base falls. You and I both know what happens. Up we go again. Many property owners do not want the city or county assessor to come into the interior of their home. If you have done extensive work, well, then okay, you have a reason.
If you have done no repairs and feel the interior of the property is a bit to be desired, you may wish to invite the assessor inside. Make sure you are available to walk around your property with the assessor and point out the bowed walls because the roof needs to be replaced.
Point out the unleveled floor because the property has shifted a bit over the years and probably needs some support beams. Point out some good things as well, never dwell on just the bad points. This might help to lower your assessment, thus lower your property tax liability.
Look at your tax card at the county assessor’s office. You might find some interesting things about the assessment of your property. In a home, the assessor may include a room as a bedroom, but in all reality, you cannot fit a bed in the room.
You can also see if they note any improvements or structure damages. If you see any information on the tax card that does not appear correct, talk to the assessor and have the corrections made. This is going to help lower your property tax liability as well.
You may find yourself with a higher assessment than a property similar because your property is elegantly decorated. You can decorate, but when the assessor comes to inspect and judge the property, you might not want to impress him or her.
The next thing you can do is know the neighborhood. Sometimes viewing similar properties just like your property may show you some inaccuracies as far as assessed values.
Sometimes mistakes are made and you can point this out to the assessor. If you find a property exactly like your property, except it has a larger garage, newer windows, a shed or even a deck and it is valued lower than your property which has none of these things, you might consider calling this to the assessor’s attention. They can and do make entry mistakes as well as observation mistakes. You need to do some checking and thinking before the assessor comes.