Real Estate Taxes

And a lot of it is to keep the Mcmansion people happy and protect their property values. The trailer house crowd generally don't frequent the library or the park and generally don't demand more laws. They also don't put pressure on the local gov't to enact things like recycling and other projects.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

I am for TERM LIMITS. Go to the poles and VOTE the MONEY grubbers out of office. This state ranks very high on the tax list
PROPERTY TAX, STATE INCOME TAX,SALES TAX, AUTO TAX WITH HIGH LISCENSE FEES. YOU DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN N.C.
The same political party stayes in office 95% of the time.

Jay, I think you just described CT. The only thing you left out was the corruption.

Socialism costs money, it has to come from somewhere, states are not allowed to print their own money like the feds do.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

But apparently it is alright to hand out IOU's in lieu of money.

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Going back to the OP and Real Estate Taxes. You can only hope to find some place where the tax rates are still low. We closed on nearly 50 acres of ag land on July 15th. Our prorated share of the taxes for the rest of the year was $17.16. There are still places.......

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Prorated for 6 months, so a full year would be near $35 for 50 acres. Not bad.
We were doing $47 for 42 acres.

There still exist a few places where land is available for decent prices with low taxes. River frontage, power and phone line at the pavement.

The 'Feds' do not issue our money, the Federal Reserve Bank does. And we pay them interest on it, which is why our gov't is so far in debt.
Take a look at Ellen Brown's book 'Web of Debt'.

KS isn't bad on AG land either.

We originally paid $82 annually for 40 acres, while my 14.5' duck boat was $87. We now have 80 acres of AG land and it's $169 per year. We're almost finished putting the barn up, so I'm waiting to see what impact that's going to have.

Chuck

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Might does not make right, but it sure makes what is.

What state are you in, doc?

Property taxes are for generating revenue for the county or city, not for punishing the "rich".

Since the govervment needs the money, if someone pays less, someone else will have to pay more.

Someone with a trailer on two acres, should pay the same, as a two acre estate worth a million and a half?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...StateRank.aspx

Here's a list of states and their property tax rates, didn't see any left out so I guess they all have property taxes including the District of Columbia. I really don't understand the chart as in our state property taxes vary by county.
Bottom line is you're going to pay one way or the other and no matter where you live. Holding off paying high property taxes by moving is a temporary fix. Since you moved there to avoid high property taxes so will many others, especially people on fixed incomes. Slowly as the population increases and the people require more services the property taxes will rise along with it.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

Here, if you add shelters or additional shed space and keep one roof, you don't get taxed additional for it. For this reason, DH is adding his shelter for the tractors, horses, and rabbit shed to the barn that is already here. Also, portable storage buildings, such as Handi-House (what we have in south GA) are not taxed as you pay sales tax on them. This makes an affordable alternative for outbuildings. We got a 12 X 36 for $4000 with 4 windows and two house, cottage doors and made an apartment for the teenagers out if it, and we are not taxed on it as it is considered a portable building.

PA has one too

Not everywhere is growing.

Some areas are shrinking.

Maine peaked it's population at 3 million, today Maine's population is at 1.3 million. Some counties are still shrinking in population here.

In an area where it is growing, it may take 20 or 40 years before the growth is enough to require raising taxes for the city folk's convenience services.

That in itself buys you a few decades with lower taxes.

Around here the ruralness, or 'Un-Organized' status is something the locals hold on to with great effort. Resisting anyone who wants to turn the area into a 'growth zone'.

Here in Va a structure worth less than $500 does not get taxed. Meaning that one large barn or pole shed will get valued at $2000 but 4 or 5 small buildings or sheds have no tax value at all. Where they get you here is not in valuing how much any particular structure would cost to rebuild (or cost you to build) but they use a 'fair' across the board cost per sqft. Our house is an old house with just rock pier foundation, no insulation, older wiring, tin roof etc, yet is valued at the same cost as a newer house of the same sqft. I have stated to them that cost to rebuild a certain amount of sqft is not the equivalent of the value of that sqft in an existing house due to different construction methods and materials etc. Our farm tax has gone from $1200 a year to $1800 a year in 8 years! They also went from taxes due once a year to split taxes twice a year, I'm assuming so that many people will not notice how much their taxes have increased.

My parents built a new house 6 years ago and this past reassesment valued their house (just house not land) at $80k higher than their total cost to build! We fought it but got no-where because they use a 'standard' per sqft value regardless of how much you said it cost to build it. We showed contracts and bills but it didn't matter to them. Don't tell me construction costs have increased by %40 since 6 years ago!!

Property value has little to do with cost of construction. It has everything to do with comparable property and recent sales prices thereof in a given area.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

Kentucky also, for over 65... Here's the form PDF you file with your property valuation office in your county of residence.

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My How To blog - Happy Homesteading!

You bet! Who knows, the person in the trailer on two acres could be a multi-millionaire and the person in the 1.5 million estate could be a retired, fixed income widow whose husband left her with very little.

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....