Think your property taxes are high, check these out.

[Hoop]

An explanation is in order. These communities are in SE Wisconsin and the property taxes shown are the AVERAGE property taxes for homes within that community. The top 8 communities shown are VERY upscale neighborhoods with lots & lots of million+ dollar homes.
Suburbs of Milwaukee.



city living.......wow

[jill.costello]

I grew up in Mequon, and my parents still have their breeding farm there. My father has fought tooth-n-nail against the outrageous increases each year....finally, they are moving at the end of the year when dad retires.

p.s.....Mequon IS really nice.... I would live there again if I could afford $15k/acre for farmland....

[mtman]

at $76.00 i dont think our taxes are hight at all

[wolfheart23]

Yeah, I'm paying about $5000 a year here. Just another reason to move on sooner rather than later!

[perennial]

In MA before we moved last year, we were paying $4,000.00 per year for 1/2 acre with a not fancy capecod house on it. Then we paid another almost $700 for water/sewer! When we moved, they needed a new highschool so the taxes have gone up since.

An acre of buildable land, undeveloped and zoned for residential can cost about 200,000 plus and that's not on the ocean front that's why people will buy run down fixerupers for $300,000 plus so they get some land and a house to upgrade/fix.

[mayfair]

Wisconsin does have an agricultural tax rate- anyone take advantage of that?

[SteveD(TX)]

An old friend of mine who I used to run around with about 30-35 years ago lives in a house in Dallas. His annual property taxes on that house are approximately $180,000 per year.

[bob clark]

my property tax on 80 acres in iowa is almost $300.00/ yr

[Hoop]

I look at things this way. If a person has a huge property tax bill, they obviously have been very fortunate in life. One always has the choice to cash out and move to a less expensive place where the dollar goes much further.
The tax bills in the city of Milwaukee are however, outrageous. Most of these homes are modest older homes, a far cry from the McMansions of the suburbs.

Mequon is a gorgeous area, but has very little farmland left. It is very difficult to eke out a meager existence from the land on your 40/60/80 acres and live like a peon when developers/realtors continue to bombard you with multi million dollar offers. Most people, being sensible creatures, take the money and live out their remaining years in comfort, on that pristine lake in the Northwoods, far from the maddening crowd of the cities.

[myheaven]

Here in wi I pay 1500 on 8.52 acr with a 3 br house im looking for property in nd. my neighbor payes 250,000 for his acrage & cranberries. I often see him red at tax time.

[dustyacres]

I have a home in SE WI, taxes are just about $4000. It is a 800 square foot house on less than 1/4 acre, built in 1950. We have the house on the market as we finally realized that we needed to get out of there. We were going to retire in 10 years to our farm in Iowa, and decided to go now. 3 weeks ago we made the move. Husband got a job transfer, which we didn't think we would get lucky enough for. Gas here an Iowa is also 40 cents cheaper per gallon then what we are in WI, in part due to WI high gas tax. property tax a here (Iowa)on our 80 acre farm with century farm house and many out buildings is almost $1000.
The selling market is terrible. At any given time there is about 940 houses on the market, right now there are 2250, many being foreclosures. We just hope we can sell it to be rid of that expense and get away from the rising taxes, wish we could of done it last year.
House in Wi is valued at $132,000 by the city, the market rate we have it listed for selling is $118,000. We can't even sell it at tax value, because the market is so bad. (mind you house is in great condition, new everything, siding ,roof, ac, floors,decks, hot tub,) So here we are paying taxes for a value that it isn't even able to be sold for.

[BigBoy]

My 9 acres with a pond... $24 annually. With a home and barn it will be around $500.

[ET1 SS]

Our home in Connecticut? $5,000

Our home in Maine? $47

[Selena]

Those taxes are reasonable (Milwaukee) Given the amount of public services the city provides and the paltry education dollars WI spends, it could be a lot more per year. Better than the one county that closed the only school. Taxes are part and parcel of living in a civilized country. Think you can protect your property 24 X 7 X 365 all by yourself while raising your own food (or working off the homestead) and/or homeschooling your kids? Good luck if you can do it all.

[sisterpine]

Lets see if you put ours all together vacant land and house plot we pay about 1300.00 a year for the house and 40 acres. Seperated we pay 35.00 for 20 acres and the rest for the house plus two acres and then another 18 raw land. Could be better but could also be so much worse. Our house is only worth about a hundred thousand it is very small 1100 sq feet. We love it!

[Jaclynne]

Taxes have become a real burden for property owners in our county, and people are raising heck about. Not doing them much good though. At a recent citizens/officials meeting our county judge told one of the complainers,

"You might need to just get an extra job if your having trouble paying your tax bill."

I don't think we'd need extra jobs if we cut out supporting the baseball teams and insisting on silly improvements like astro turf for the football field.

Halo

[brownthumb]

Unfortunately, the years when Bill Clinton was in office, our federal government (in an effort to turn the deficit to a surplus) transferred responsibility for many things to the states. Then the overburdened states transferred it to the local governments.
Now that the Republicans have been in office for the last six years, the tax burdens have increased on the working man while reducing (capital gain tax reduction, federal estate tax reduction, etc.)taxes on the wealthy. But hey, all those people that voted for him got what they wanted didn't they? Come to think of it the issues that cost Kerry the presidency were abortion and gay marriage. Has anything really changed in that area? It's been said that people "vote" their pocketbooks. Last time, they voted their religion. See where that got us?
Don't be surprised if the federal income tax(on the people making under $100,000) jumps significantlly in the next year too. Somebody's got to pay for this Iraq deal and Israel's new cause. It ain't gonna be the rich!

[Selena]

The buck passing started back in the 80s when tax revenues started dropping with the increased 401k participation. And taxes are going to increase, no doubt about it. Actually they've been increasing for the past 20+ years, they've just been calling them fees not taxes. The buck has finally been passed to the point where it cannot be passed any more - to property owners.
Oh Halohead don't get me started on the corporate welfare that is supported by property taxes. STUPID STUPID people who vote for those increases and if they want to move the team if they don't get their way, fine, go. Short term pain for long term gain in my book. SE WI did oust the one politician who changed his mind over the stadium funding. They never hold the team (or other corporate entity) accountable for providing a competetive team or not leaving after their tax handout expires. I have no issue for paying taxes for road maintenance but not roads for developers benefit, fire, police, library, garbage pick-up and some school funding. Essential services are just that.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by mayfair

Wisconsin does have an agricultural tax rate- anyone take advantage of that?

Michigan has that too, and our 80 is taxed at the agriculture rate.

[Ramblin Wreck]

17 acres and a house on a poorly maintained road 45 miles NW of Atlanta with no water, sewer, or other services: $3,500 annually. The county needs the money to build all the roads and provide the services the developers need for the new sub-divisions.