For example, if a person installs an outdoor wood boiler, or a geothermal system, are the cost of those included in tax evaluations in your areas?
Here in British Columbia, we are taxed on the market value of our property. If you could sell your property for more money after the installation, your taxes will be higher.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. I have been able to get more info on this. It seems the town in question, New Sharon, Maine, is using their legal right to tax personal property and taxing turbines, geothermal and solar systems as personal property. It's all second-hand info, so I am not 100% sure about the details.
The way town budgets work in Maine is they establish a budget based on prior year expenditures. Each year is a new ballgame because the school budgets change, the amount of revenue sharing from the state changes, and the towns share of the county budget can change depending on the county budget.
Once that budget total is fairly well known, the budget is divided by total property tax (real plus maybe personal) valuation. This establishes a tax rate per thousand dollars of valuation. The rate is typically anywhere from $12 to $25 per thousand depending on how high or low they make their property evaluations and how up to date it is. Any tax collected on a personal property basis will decrease the tax needed to be collected on real property because total tax revenue cannot exceed the budget total.
So, it becomes a question of what portion of tax revenue comes from what type of property, a $25,000 geothermal or solar system, a large house or a piece of land. Our local tax clerk is against personal property taxes, they are difficult to appraise and legally difficult to collect if unpaid. Apparently the law differentiates on town remedies. A town can put a lien on real property for unpaid tax, and eventually own it. The law does not allow that for personal property tax in arrears according to her.
I still have some digging to do to fully understand the real versus personal issue.
