The Last Word on Property Taxes (for now)
I’m packing up to take off for the rest of the week. I have a family reunion and a funeral to attend. I honestly think I’ll have more fun at the funeral. But before I go, there are a couple of things I wanted to pass along about the increase in your tax bills.
First, part of the increases may be the result of the increase in the homestead exemption. Currently it’s about $45,000. If you have a home worth $90,000 that homestead is worth a lot more to you than if your home is assessed at $150,000. The government has to make up the cash somewhere, so the more expensive homes are picking up some of the extra slack.
Here’s some more food for thought to process. If you have a home equity loan based on your home’s previous assessment, do you now have a lot more equity sitting there because of the new assessed value? Or better yet, does the bank think your home is worth more? Or what if you have a loan approved for a certain amount, will the new assessment impact that? You see where this is going.
It would be nice if we could really address this issue by acknowledging that government spends too much money and as long as we demand more from government, it will be more than happy to take more from us.
Happy 4th of July.
