When I help a client buy a home in Sonoma County, one of the questions that is always asked is "How much will my property taxes be?" Every answer to this question takes some research, and thankfully the information is readily available on the County's public web site. The challenge is to explain it!
In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13 which states the base rate for property tax will be 1% of the assessed value. As each year passes, the assessed value of your property is increased 2% and taxed accordingly. So if your home was assessed at $200,000 last fiscal year, the next fiscal year it would be assessed at $204,000. Then the 1% base rate is applied to determine the tax amount.
When a home is sold, the old assessment is thrown out the window and the new assessment is (usually) the new purchase price. With rising home values over the past 40+ years, it isn't unusual for long-time home owners to be paying a small fraction of what their new neighbor is paying for property taxes.
Now comes the fun part. The County and its Cities can impose voter approved taxes onto your property tax bill, adding to the flat 1% rate. Below is my actual tax bill from online County records that shows specific County and City taxes based on my property address.
In addition to paying 1% of my current assessed value ($3554.78), I'm also paying $505.74 this year for school bonds, Fire protection, Warm Springs Dam project and Mosquito Abatement. My total tax for the fiscal year is $4060.52 of which I've paid half.
Luckily, there is a short answer to the question "How much will my property taxes be?" For the first year of ownership, a safe estimate is 1.25% of the purchase price. But I always print out the current tax bill and explain the process to my buyers, to give them the opportunity to learn how our property tax system works.
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