Property Taxes

[MossRoad]

We, too, have a mortgage, so that interest is tax deductible, if that's what you're talking about.

No. If we have a mortgage, we get a Reduction on our county property taxes. Not a Deduction.

As for taking a tax de-duction on your federal taxes for mortgage interest, don't you have to itemize and beat the standard deduction to see any gain in your refund? I can't recall, as I used a tax program on the computer. I entered our $200 (approx) mortgage interest paid and don't recall the refund going up. We itemize every year and have never, in 25 years, come close to beating the standard deduction.

 

[Dargo]

Remember to pay your full balance though.

Good point. Thanks for mentioning. I know many who are contesting their bloated tax bill and don't plan to pay it. Unfortunately, that's a mistake. Worse yet, two years ago I contested one property, won, and the state never paid me back. They just allowed me to deduct that overpayment from my next bill! What a rip!

 

[MossRoad]

Hoosier daddy? Hoosier tax code, that's who! :laughing:

Hey, you southern Indiana guys... guess what? Up here in St. Joe county we got our property tax bills on time this year. First time in 8 years due to all the tax restructuring.:laughing:

 

[dooleysm]

I believe the 60 refund requirement I mentioned earlier is newly passed legislation.

 

[dooleysm]

We were on time this year receiving ours in Dubois county too. I know they were late last year, but I don't recall anything beyond that.

 

[dooleysm]

No. If we have a mortgage, we get a Reduction on our county property taxes. Not a Deduction.

As for taking a tax de-duction on your federal taxes for mortgage interest, don't you have to itemize and beat the standard deduction to see any gain in your refund? I can't recall, as I used a tax program on the computer. I entered our $200 (approx) mortgage interest paid and don't recall the refund going up. We itemize every year and have never, in 25 years, come close to beating the standard deduction.

The mortgage exemption reduces the assessed value of your property. Same as the homestead exemption and one other exemption I get, for geothermal. I get the total cost of the system (material only I believe) exempted from my property taxes for the life of the system. That's a nice one to have as well.

As for the tax deduction, several years ago we crossed the standard deduction limit (on the way down with our itemized deductions) due to falling amounts of mortgage interest paid. We haven't bothered to check our itemized deductions for the past couple years. You are correct in your explanation though.

 

[Bird]

As for taking a tax de-duction on your federal taxes for mortgage interest, don't you have to itemize and beat the standard deduction to see any gain in your refund?

Yes, that's true.

 

[charlz]

What do you fellas think about just adding about 2 % to the sales tax in each of our cities and counties and do away with property taxes all together..It seems to me that travelers, visitors and renters should all share in the services our taxes pay for.

That might work for a 'full service' county or city. But if they are a 'bedroom' community likely the sales tax take is pretty low compared to property taxes collected. If they put in a really high sales tax people would stop buying there etc.

I would think property tax is pretty stable whereas sales tax could vary quite a bit based on the economy, unemployment etc.

For the people whose appraisals have gone through the roof, is there local legislation controlling the mill levy rate? Seems pretty straight forward, they need to collect $Z for the budget:

$Total_Appraisals X %Mill_Levy = $Z

Just vary one of them on the left side of the equation until you get the $Z you want. They either get it by adjusting the Mill Levy or the Total Appraisal value.

 

[charlz]

I haven't quite figured out the 'build, Build, BUILD!' attitude of the county here (at least before this current bust). The way they had to keep jacking up the property taxes to pay for expansion seems backward to me... you would think new development would pay it's own way. Not to mention all the aging street maintenance etc. going forward... just seems like you have to constantly raise taxes.

Seems like leaving the fields to farming is much better, you collect less taxes but you also have less to maintain and service... corn doesn't dial 911 very often

 

[MossRoad]

I haven't quite figured out the 'build, Build, BUILD!' attitude of the county here (at least before this current bust). The way they had to keep jacking up the property taxes to pay for expansion seems backward to me... you would think new development would pay it's own way. Not to mention all the aging street maintenance etc. going forward... just seems like you have to constantly raise taxes.

Seems like leaving the fields to farming is much better, you collect less taxes but you also have less to maintain and service... corn doesn't dial 911 very often

The problem is communities are pitted against each other to attract business. So they give businesses incentives to locate in their community. The communities that give the most incentives win the businesses, who employ people, who pay taxes. The businesses pay less tax and the individual pays more tax as it goes along. Eventually, the individuals pay so much tax that they can no longer afford to live there and leave. The ones that stay can't afford to leave. Then you end up with a large class division as most large towns eventually do. Run down inner city housing VS nice suburbs. Anyone with money leaves town. Anyone without money stays. Fewer taxes are collected in the city and it starts to crumble. To gain more tax revenue the city annexes the suburb and the cycle continues. People move further out, the inner city collapses like a donut hole, the donut gets bigger and the inner hole gets bigger. Its kind of a sick process, but that's the way it works. :drool: