Property Taxpayers aren't facing a "double whammy"; they're facing a "triple whammy". The mayor's depressing prediction that an increase in the property tax rate next year is "almost inescapable" disregards the fact that 2009 is also a reassessment year for the Shelby County Assessor of Property. Along with the higher property taxes, that this mayor is proposing, comes the additional nauseating burden that property taxpayers will face an artificial increase in values of their property once again, both commercial and residential, increasing the tax liability even more.
From 2002 to 2004, the nation's median price of a single-family home rose from $158,100 to $184,100, according to the National Association of Realtors. That's more than a 16 percent increase. Property assessors went crazy taxing the increased equity.
Property taxes are the most hated state and local tax in the nation and this has more to do with rising home prices and another attempt to unfairly tap the higher equity about to surface in the next reassessment period in Memphis and Shelby County next year.
With property tax you pay more when your home increases in value, regardless of changes to your income or whether you ever realize increased gain when you sell your home. Property tax is based on the assessed value of your home and if you live in a neighborhood with appreciating home prices, your property tax bill is going to go up.
When home values rise many local governments try to reduce the property tax rate. Despite rate reductions the total tax bill will still go up when the subject property is slammed with a higher assessment value by the property assessor. Even if there were no property tax increase passed by the local government, the new assessment period is going to grab homeowners by the seat of the pants with an additional tax burden levied on them.
The assessors office will open the door to county-wide tax appeals next year because of Herenton's imposition of a higher tax rate. Taxpayers must be more vigilant than ever to ensure that their property is not being valued unfairly.
Soaring property taxes are the number one worry in state legislatures across the country because of the housing crisis, resetting adjustable rate mortgages and declining home values in many parts of the nation. Lawmakers are trying to make peace with angry homeowners, homebuilders, and commercial and residential property developers in every state in America searching for property tax caps, limits, exemptions and other ways to ease the burdens.
The mayor resigned on March 21, 2008. (update: the mayor backed out of the plan to resign) With this, hope for many that the reign of a campaign of predatory ad valorem taxation would have finally ended after seventeen years. It is my hope for the citizens of Memphis and Shelby County that this will place the thought of property tax increases on hold for a long, long time in Memphis and Shelby County. I'll sleep better.
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