So, I bought this little Honda Accord...

[txdon]

"...did anyone else get separate tax bills for county and school taxes this year?" Jim

Jim in Houston the Tax bill comes on two statements in Lee County it comes on one.

Mike, we had a meeting with the school board (in Lee County) and they said that the way the state was figuring things the local school tax will be reduced next year EXCEPT for the people who were over 65 - their property taxes are frozen and by law they cannot be raised OR lowered.

 

[Bird]

"...did anyone else get separate tax bills for county and school taxes this year?" Jim

Jim in Houston the Tax bill comes on two statements in Lee County it comes on one.

Mike, we had a meeting with the school board (in Lee County) and they said that the way the state was figuring things the local school tax will be reduced next year EXCEPT for the people who were over 65 - their property taxes are frozen and by law they cannot be raised OR lowered.

I don't know how they decide whether to make it all one bill or separate bills. Before I moved back to town 4 years ago, we were living far outside anyone's city limits in Navarro County and always got two separate tax bills; one from the county and one from the school district.

Now we're back in town, in the City of Corinth, Denton County, and Denton School District and it was all on one bill. Now I know it's expensive to keep schools operating, but it does seem odd to me that 68.5% of the taxes are school taxes, with 25% for the city and 6.5% for the county.

 

[scott_vt]

Now I know it's expensive to keep schools operating, but it does seem odd to me that 68.5% of the taxes are school taxes

Hmmm,
Seems odd to me too Probablly 55 % school up here 45 % town And out of the 55% how much in salary increases and how much do the kids really get ? Hmmmm seems odd to me too

 

[mikim]

EXCEPT for the people who were over 65 - their property taxes are frozen and by law they cannot be raised OR lowered
yeah - that figures -- whoever wrote the bill to give 'em a break never dreamed they would ever go down, so didn't make any provision for that. Forward thinkers our politicians are - ain't they?

 

[Bird]

"...did anyone else get separate tax bills for county and school taxes this year?" Jim

Jim in Houston the Tax bill comes on two statements in Lee County it comes on one.

Mike, we had a meeting with the school board (in Lee County) and they said that the way the state was figuring things the local school tax will be reduced next year EXCEPT for the people who were over 65 - their property taxes are frozen and by law they cannot be raised OR lowered.

Don, do you know just which section of the Tax Code I could find that in. Of course, my "over 65 homestead exemption" did make my taxes about a thousand dollars less than the prior owner of the property was paying, but I'm not familiar enough with the Tax Code. I didn't know the school taxes were frozen so they couldn't go either up or down.

 

[jinman]

Mornin Jim,
You dont want to go there Ask the guys in the NE whats going on with taxes My Vt property, 10 acres, one small 900 sq ft home and a shed $2000 per year ! My Ct home, 1 acre 2000 sq ft approx $6600 per year Being a volunteer fireman in Ct gets me down to $5600 if I make the required points, you bet I make them

Like I said, like Hazmat said, dont go there

The problem as I see it Scotty, is that we are ALL paying way too much in taxes. It's easy to get into the comparison game, but frankly, we are all taking it in the BVDs over taxes. I haven't mentioned the taxes are on improved property. I know exactly how Hazmat feels. If he improves his land by his own hard work and expense, the taxes will go up. That's a big dis-incentive in my book.

Like Mike mentioned, there are people who are afraid to retire because they can't meet their tax bills on a fixed income. I was talking to a friend recently who lives in town and would like to move out and build in a more rural area. He is in his 70s. He said that where he is now living, the taxes are frozen. If he decides to build, then that property will be assessed at the full amount and he will have a huge increase in taxes even if the house he builds is the same value as the one he is now living in. So he is essentially held hostage in his current house by property taxes.

 

[Jagmandave]

In Kansas they changed the law last year to this system and took so much heat for it that they wound up changing it back! Now you pay tax on what you paid for the vehicle - or say you paid. All it takes is a bill of sale signed by the seller.........

I remember when I first moved to California, I took my old Posche 914 and when I went to register it they charged me sales tax on the book value! I asked them how they can charge me a sales tax on something I've owned for 5 years and they said "because"...........end of story!

When I moved back to Kansas and brought my 69 XK-E, Kansas charged me property tax, but because the car is so old (even tho restored to as new) they only charged me a pittance.......

 

[scott_vt]

Like Mike mentioned, there are people who are afraid to retire because they can't meet their tax bills on a fixed income.

Hey Jim,
Your right about that !!! Better keep Kathleen workin to perpetuate the life style I have become accustomed to

 

[txdon]

"Don, do you know just which section of the Tax Code I could find that in." -Bird

Bird, I do not know which section. The head of the school district was telling us about it during a meeting. He said taxes won't be going down much and the over 65er's who have had their taxes frozen years ago would not be affected - only those frozen in the last two years in our school district I won't hit 65 for many years so I did not inquire about the details. He also indicated that the state was giving more to the school district each year but our district has not grown in the last ten years. He had many graphs and charts - kind of like school again.

All I really paid attention to was that our school tax was going down (a bit) and for those over 65 (tax frozen) the tax will remain the same. He showed how the Governor was wrong about lowering taxes for everyone.

Jim, today I renewed my Truck license at the county annex and saw a copy of the new 80% law sitting on the counter - thought of you, thanks for the heads up! Sure is nice to be the only one in line in this small county.

 

[Bird]

the over 65er's who have had their taxes frozen years ago would not be affected - only those frozen in the last two years

Don, I'm not sure, but I think he meant that taxes won't go down enough to affect those that were frozen years ago, because their taxes are already lower than the new rates, but those frozen in the last two years will be going down a little bit.

And speaking of renewing vehicle registrations, I got the notice in the mail for our minivan in early November; same price as last year ($64.30), so I went in person and renewed it on November 9 even though it didn't expire until the end of December. Then near the end of November, I got another renewal notice in the mail, just like the first one except for $10 less. Then I found a small slip of paper in the envelope that the earlier notice was a mistake that only affected 2001 and 2004 model vehicles, to use the new notice to renew the registration and if you had already renewed it, you would be getting a refund in the mail. The check came yesterday.