Text 30388, 82 rader
Skriven 2009-03-28 11:26:12 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 30372 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
Ärende: Changes
===============
27 Mar 09 04:43, Bob Ackley wrote to Roy Witt:

 BA> Replying to a message of Roy Witt to Bob Ackley:

 RW>>>> You may also deduct interest on a mortgage and property
 RW>>>> taxes on a yearly basis.

 BA>>> But not repairs, modifications or improvements to the place.

 RW>> In a round-about way you can. Your property is re-evaluated by the
 RW>> local taxing agency and always to a higher value. So, your property
 RW>> taxes go up and your taxes-paid deductions also go up.

 BA> We might see property values falling for the next couple of years.

I doubt that we'll see it here. But property values have been declining
since 2005. Actually they're getting back to their real value.

 BA> I suspect the assessors will drag their feet as much as possible to
 BA> keep the assessed values where they are instead of downgrading them
 BA> to a realistic market value.

That's where I'm coming from, above. It may take a few years before they
get the idea. Already we're seeing letters to the editor in the local rag
about it.

 BA> Because if those assessed values go down the mil levies will have to
 BA> go up to maintain the same tax income to the government.

Which has affected their budgets, even now.

 BA> In 1976 I paid $17,000 for that house in Plattsmouth.  At that time
 BA> the assessed value of the house was something over $8,000 and that's
 BA> what the property tax was calculated on.  Over a period of years that
 BA> assessed value crept up to $11,400.  Then the state legislature
 BA> mandated that all real estate in the state be completely reassessed.
 BA> I got a notice from the assessor that he'd raised the assessed value
 BA> of my house from $11,400 to $40,000 in one easy step.  I pointed out
 BA> to the assessor that a house nearly identical to mine and a block and
 BA> a half away had been on the market for over a year with an asking
 BA> price of $28,500 and hadn't yet been sold, and he reduced my assessed
 BA> value to $28,500 (and started kicking it up a bit every year).  Six
 BA> or seven years later I sold the place for $36,000, and that's just
 BA> about what the assessed value was by then.

Sounds like Nebraska needed a prop 13 to help out the homeowners. That
happened in California in 1977, I think. My taxes were cut in half and the
assessor couldn't raise them more than 2%/yr unless the property was sold,
then the value was reassessed at the purchase price.

 BA> BTW the assessor was fired by the voters at the first election
 BA> following that massive revaluation of property.  At the time of that
 BA> revaluation the assessor claimed that county wide the assessed values
 BA> had only gone up 15%. I noted at the time that the mil levies (how
 BA> property taxes are calculated) only went down about 6%, which means
 BA> that we had a 9% tax increase hidden in that revaluation.

CA and TX both apply a percentage to the value and then calculate it to
the .003rd digit.

 BA> Politicians and bureaucrooks don't *like* people who point those
 BA> things out.

You're right about that.

 BA> One of my neighbors was absolutely ecstatic that his assessed value
 BA> had gone up so much - until I pointed out to him that the assessed
 BA> value didn't mean squat (except for paying taxes) unless he could
 BA> sell the place for that price.

Or like here if you're over 65yo. The property value may increase, but the
tax remains frozen until you croak or sell the place. Of course it has to
be your place of residence too. If you own rental property, you don't get
those breaks.

                R\%/itt




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