Property Taxes Killing Me

[Bucksandreds]

Northeastern Ohio here. Have mid-century 1165 sq. ft. flat ranch on 2/3 acre in wonderful location facing walking trails and golf courses of huge Metropark.  Nearby Interstate to take me to major airports or anywhere else I want to go.  Property taxes yearly are $2265. Ohio income tax yearly is $560. This location is a best-kept secret, no question.

Central Ohio not so much.  Top neighborhoods/schools in Columbus put you easily over 2% of property value. I'm about 2.3% in northwest Columbus or about $8600 per year.  Cheap property tax neighborhoods put you in "ghettoish" schools.  Friends with many teachers. A couple close to my family teaches in the ghettoish schools and moved to my neighborhood.  They know from first hand experience that paying for school district is not the fallacy that some of the earlier posters suggested.

[dividendsplease]

You get what you pay for though: Arizona very low property taxes and horrible school system. Northeastern US high property taxes and good public school systems. Hence why everyone moves west once the kids are out of the nest.

[Jmoody10]

Ours went up almost 8 times from last year! $70 to $550 a year.... But this year included the most of the value of our house. South coastal Georgia. 2000 sq ft house.

[lizzzi]

Northeastern Ohio here. Have mid-century 1165 sq. ft. flat ranch on 2/3 acre in wonderful location facing walking trails and golf courses of huge Metropark.  Nearby Interstate to take me to major airports or anywhere else I want to go.  Property taxes yearly are $2265. Ohio income tax yearly is $560. This location is a best-kept secret, no question.

Central Ohio not so much.  Top neighborhoods/schools in Columbus put you easily over 2% of property value. I'm about 2.3% in northwest Columbus or about $8600 per year.  Cheap property tax neighborhoods put you in "ghettoish" schools.  Friends with many teachers. A couple close to my family teaches in the ghettoish schools and moved to my neighborhood.  They know from first hand experience that paying for school district is not the fallacy that some of the earlier posters suggested.

School district where I live is rated 115th out of the 610 school districts in Ohio. So, not too bad.

[Vilgan]

You guys in the US with the high property taxes.   Do you also pay income tax to your state?  Or is it just federal income tax?

Locally...
Oregon:  I pay 0% sales tax, 9% income tax, and about 1.5% property tax.
Washtington (just 10 miles away) pays 0% income taxes, 6.5-9.9% sales tax, and similar 1-2% property taxes.

Everyone has the same rules for federal tax rules, which are bizantine and mostly rigged in favor of those with resources to be rich but appear poor for legal purposes.

State tax rate vary wildly from state to state, and somewhat from county to county.

"Freedom" at its finest.

1-2% property tax for WA sounds high at least in Seattle. We are well under 1%. Prop something in the past limited increases in property tax revenue (outside of levies) to 1% per year so when property values are increasing quickly then the % of the house value paid decreases. Seattle, not surprisingly, has seen pretty insane property value hikes - we are up roughly 75% in the past 4.5 years for our house although the assessed value only reflects a 50% jump.

[Lucky Girl]

Like Liberty Stache, I'm also in Taxachusetts.  I've lived many places, including Texas and Illinois, and I appreciate the impacts of high taxes on the entire system.  In Massachusetts we pay property tax, sales tax, and income tax (5%).  We get decent schools, decent regulations (Romneycare is a good thing!), and decent infrastructure.  I'd love to move to a lower COL state, but any option we come up with, we lose a lot. 

The relationship between bad schools and taxes is complex.  Throwing money at the problem won't solve it.  But if you fail to invest anything in schools they are likely to get worse!

[Bucksandreds]

Northeastern Ohio here. Have mid-century 1165 sq. ft. flat ranch on 2/3 acre in wonderful location facing walking trails and golf courses of huge Metropark.  Nearby Interstate to take me to major airports or anywhere else I want to go.  Property taxes yearly are $2265. Ohio income tax yearly is $560. This location is a best-kept secret, no question.

Central Ohio not so much.  Top neighborhoods/schools in Columbus put you easily over 2% of property value. I'm about 2.3% in northwest Columbus or about $8600 per year.  Cheap property tax neighborhoods put you in "ghettoish" schools.  Friends with many teachers. A couple close to my family teaches in the ghettoish schools and moved to my neighborhood.  They know from first hand experience that paying for school district is not the fallacy that some of the earlier posters suggested.

School district where I live is rated 115th out of the 610 school districts in Ohio. So, not too bad.

Yeah, I was only speaking about Columbus area.  Ohio is a very affordable state, overall.  Columbus, when it comes to property taxes in the family friendly neighborhoods is not.  It is still a bargain for a lot of other things (House prices of around $100 per square foot in the best neighborhoods services, food, products in general, taxes on cars and registration, etc much much much cheaper than when my dad lived/worked in NH.)

[JustGettingStarted1980]

I pay about $7500 /year on a 4BR/4Bath home in a top 5 school district for my region... and I walk to work.

Trust me -> you get what you pay for.

I have children who will get a top tier education for that money. Private School per kid would be in the 5-20K/year range around here, otherwise. Amazingly, I have some neighbors who send their kids to private school anyway, which is just insane considering the quality of our public schools.

Big dilemma I have in my mind is; after I FIRE, and the kids are off to college and beyond, will it be worth it to pay to keep the old homestead to have a BASE for my kids, with all the memories, neighbors, close parks, and sense of community that comes with it?

Say that altogether maintenance and taxes and utilities run 15K/year. That means I'd need another 375K in my stache to keep the place even though I would likely not live there year round. I feel like the 'ol homestead would definitely be a luxury.

[hoosier]

My property taxes are around $800 for the year.  Can't remember exactly.  But you really only get the "right" to keep your land.  No public services.  Schools suck.  Etc.

[Roland of Gilead]

Property tax was one reason we sold our house and hit the road in our home built RV.  The local government was trying to raise everyone's tax by over 35% to build a new $65m school for ~500 students.  They said the old school was outdated.  It was 24 years old and our house was 31 years old.   I did not ask them to build me a new house.

So...bye bye, take your property tax and shove it you know where.   I am here camping on free federal government land and not paying one red cent.  HAH HAH!

[Blonde Lawyer]

We pay 2.9% of assessed value.  I'm paying $7,443/year or $620/month on a $257,200 house.  No sales tax or income tax.  We have a great school and public service departments though.  Other towns near me have either no police department or no overnight fire department.  We have manned stations.

[TheStachery]

We live in a state that has no income tax, property tax is ~1700/year (2000sq ft house) and the schools are the top in the state, and some of the best in the US. (if there was a way to accurately rank them)

So no, property taxes are not killing me.  I feel like we get our monies worth, especially with kids.  I do wish however, that in the winter we had some better snow removal, but it melts in a day or two.

[DA]

Property tax was one reason we sold our house and hit the road in our home built RV.  The local government was trying to raise everyone's tax by over 35% to build a new $65m school for ~500 students.  They said the old school was outdated.  It was 24 years old and our house was 31 years old.   I did not ask them to build me a new house.

So...bye bye, take your property tax and shove it you know where.   I am here camping on free federal government land and not paying one red cent.  HAH HAH!

This is the sort of thing I was talking about re:  education spending mostly being a waste.  I know of a school district that built a brand new state-of-the-art high school for $225M in anticipation of a population boom that never really panned out.  It stayed open for less than 10 years.  Now the kids go to the old school, and the new school sits vacant.  Prior to the new school closing, the old school was only at about 60% capacity (the student population was split over multiple schools).  But some politically-connected people got rich off the deal so it wasn't a total loss (sarcasm).

[TheStachery]

Property tax was one reason we sold our house and hit the road in our home built RV.  The local government was trying to raise everyone's tax by over 35% to build a new $65m school for ~500 students.  They said the old school was outdated.  It was 24 years old and our house was 31 years old.   I did not ask them to build me a new house.

So...bye bye, take your property tax and shove it you know where.   I am here camping on free federal government land and not paying one red cent.  HAH HAH!

This is the sort of thing I was talking about re:  education spending mostly being a waste.  I know of a school district that built a brand new state-of-the-art high school for $225M in anticipation of a population boom that never really panned out.  It stayed open for less than 10 years.  Now the kids go to the old school, and the new school sits vacant.  Prior to the new school closing, the old school was only at about 60% capacity (the student population was split over multiple schools).  But some politically-connected people got rich off the deal so it wasn't a total loss (sarcasm).

is that a typo? 225M?  that's not possible.

[stoaX]

You get what you pay for though: Arizona very low property taxes and horrible school system. Northeastern US high property taxes and good public school systems. Hence why everyone moves west once the kids are out of the nest.

My experience raising kids in Connecticut was that the quality of the school systems varied quite a bit from town to town.  As you might expect wealthy suburbs had the good public school systems you mention above.  Some of the bigger city school systems had lots of room for improvement. 

[stoaX]

Trust me -> you get what you pay for..

In the 3 states I raised children in the property taxes were, from highest to lowest (in both dollar terms and % of assessed value of the house) Connecticut, California and Utah.

The quality of the public schools they attended from best to worst were Connecticut - Utah - California.  So I kinda got what I paid for in CT but not in CA.   

Of course, this is a pretty small sample size, your mileage may vary!

[DA]

Property tax was one reason we sold our house and hit the road in our home built RV.  The local government was trying to raise everyone's tax by over 35% to build a new $65m school for ~500 students.  They said the old school was outdated.  It was 24 years old and our house was 31 years old.   I did not ask them to build me a new house.

So...bye bye, take your property tax and shove it you know where.   I am here camping on free federal government land and not paying one red cent.  HAH HAH!

This is the sort of thing I was talking about re:  education spending mostly being a waste.  I know of a school district that built a brand new state-of-the-art high school for $225M in anticipation of a population boom that never really panned out.  It stayed open for less than 10 years.  Now the kids go to the old school, and the new school sits vacant.  Prior to the new school closing, the old school was only at about 60% capacity (the student population was split over multiple schools).  But some politically-connected people got rich off the deal so it wasn't a total loss (sarcasm).

is that a typo? 225M?  that's not possible.

It's not a typo, unfortunately.  I'm reluctant to name the school, but a little googling with that number plus "high school closing " should bring it up.

[ZiziPB]

I have the dubious pleasure of living in CT - high property taxes ($9200 per year on property worth $265K), high income taxes (6.75%), high sales taxes (6.35%) and high gas taxes (no idea what they are but we have very expensive gas).  It also happens that I live in a town with terrible schools (but have no school age kids, so I guess it doesn't matter).  And the infrastructure is crumbling all over the state...

I am selling my place and moving to Europe when I FIRE in a year and a half.

[Guesl982374]

I have not heard of anyone who willingly pays high property taxes and NOT brag about how great their schools are.

We are on move from the 49th or 50th lowest property tax state to a middle of the road tax state.  And you know it doesn’t matter as each of the above posters have noted you stay or move for many reasons and usually property taxes is a very small (If at all) factor on why you stay or leave.

For the record the low property tax state does have excellent schools whereas the mid tax state does not.  How can that be?  Well in low tax state teachers make 40K, the schools were inexpensive to construct and with new infrastructure cheap to maintain.  In mid tax state it is the polar opposite.  My point is high tax does not equate to excellent schools, not at all.

We can certainly argue that better paid teachers make better teachers but the point is in an inexpensive state teachers can be employed for less.  Heck most everyone is, but the truth is the public in general loves to hate any sort of public employee’s salary

Toymeister, I can't speak for every location / everyone who's paid high real estate taxes however the first chart is pretty good at comparing school districts across the country. When playing around with the chart for Massachusetts, even the "middle of the road" towns were still much higher than that national average. For example, Norwood, MA is considered a blue collar town in Mass yet they rate +1.4 grade levels above average. Someone in Norwood, MA might spend $350-500K on a house and pay 1.3% RE tax or $4.5K to $7K. Cheap for MA, expensive for the US. Comparatively, Lexington, MA (rich town) was ranked the highest on the chart at +3.8 grade levels over average and a home owner there might spend $750K - $1M on a house / $10-15K on property taxes.



http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/29/upshot/money-race-and-success-how-your-school-district-compares.html?_r=1

[robartsd]

I always wonder why people think there's such a strong link between spending on schools and the quality of the school.  For increased spending to improve educational outcomes, it would have to be true that either:  (i) the current teachers are slacking, but paying them more would motivate them to work harder; (ii) there is a massive gap in the skills between the teachers hired at the lower wage and the teachers the school could hire at a higher wage, (iii) more or highly-paid administrators would improve educational outcomes, or (iv) the physical environment of the school is in such bad shape that it actually detracts from learning, and more money is needed to repair it. 

It seems to me that most likely link between spending on schools and quality would be: (v) reducing student-to-teacher ratios would improve educational outcomes. While (i) and (iii) are where the money actually seems to be spend, (v) and sometimes (iv) are where the money actually may be needed.

[mm1970]

You guys in the US with the high property taxes.   Do you also pay income tax to your state?  Or is it just federal income tax?

sales tax 8%
income tax 10%
prop tax - 1% of house price, currently I think we're at about $7k a year.

[EnjoyIt]

. . . Then maybe these people would think twice about having that 5th kid when they can't even afford to house and feed themselves.

Your funny, you think people "think" when they procreate.

[Northwestie]

I always wonder why people think there's such a strong link between spending on schools and the quality of the school.  For increased spending to improve educational outcomes, it would have to be true that either:  (i) the current teachers are slacking, but paying them more would motivate them to work harder; (ii) there is a massive gap in the skills between the teachers hired at the lower wage and the teachers the school could hire at a higher wage, (iii) more or highly-paid administrators would improve educational outcomes, or (iv) the physical environment of the school is in such bad shape that it actually detracts from learning, and more money is needed to repair it. 

It seems to me that most likely link between spending on schools and quality would be: (v) reducing student-to-teacher ratios would improve educational outcomes. While (i) and (iii) are where the money actually seems to be spend, (v) and sometimes (iv) are where the money actually may be needed.

Interesting that this is coming to a head in Washington State now.  The state was sued by parents for not fully funding education and dropping the ball into the lap of local jurisdictions, who can only raise so much money through property tax levies.  It went to the State Supreme court and is bouncing back and forth there with no discernible progress.  The court is fining the legislature $100k a day in contempt. 

About 25 years ago there was a similar case in NJ that was resolved with development of the state income tax.  We'll see where this goes.

[Johnez]

Posting location with your taxes would be helpful guys.

[BlueHouse]

Doesn't anyone here qualify for homeowner's deductions for their property tax?  For your primary residence, $67.5K is knocked off the assessed price and the taxable rate cannot increase by more than 10% per year.  So if your house value appreciates, your property tax grows at a slower rate (but still painful). 

Surprised I'm not hearing more of that.

In Cali the Homeowners Exemption is only a $7,000 reduction on your property's value so doesn't really make a difference when you are talking about median housing price (condos and sfhs) around $650k and up in many areas. What state do you live in that has that big of a deduction?

We also pay state taxes (not sure the %) as well as fed and sakes (varies by city but 9%-ish).

DC.

There are two main benefits to obtaining the Homestead Deduction. First, for the purpose of computing your yearly tax liability, it will reduce your real property’s assessed value by $67,500 $71,700. At a tax rate of $0.85 per $100 of assessed value, that’s a annual savings of $573.75 $609.45. Second, you are entitled to an assessment cap such that your property may not be taxed on more than a 10% increase in the property’s assessed value each year.   

It's actually not an unreasonably-priced place to LIVE.  It is extremely expensive to live here IF you have a job.   

[KarefulKactus15]

606.20$ a YEAR -  Outskirts of Greenville SC

[teen persuasion]

WNY - ~$3600 property tax (actually, roughly half true property tax and half is school tax), after the STAR exemption (first $30k property value is ignored).

8% sales tax in my county, 8.75% in the larger metro area south of us where all the stores are.

Income tax 4% at our end of the table (we're negative for fed tax); looks like top rate is 8.82%.

[chasesfish]

$14,500 for a 3bd house, the price of a short commute in a big city (and no state income tax)

[K-ice]

As a Canadian I am shocked at the high property tax in some states.

I pay about 1% or $5000 on a $500K home.  I don't find it that high but certainly realize that it is an ongoing expense. Combined with utilities & insurance I could rent a 2bdm apartment for less but it wouldn't be the same as a SFH. Our house is on a large lot 50x150 ft.

We have excellent schools. I only know of one private school in our city of  close to 1M people.

sale's tax 0%
"State" Income tax 10%
Federal ... Variable ~ 25%

Also, our city is known for sprawl & poor transit but I can walk a block & catch a bus within 10-20 min.
All our libraries are free...

I owned property in another Canadian city. My distance to down town similar but the Neighbourhood was more dense. Lot only 25x75 ft. Picture a brownstone. The tax rate was similar 1% of value, but the services were ridiculously good & frequent. Considering the lot size that city collects 4x the property tax.

With this they provided: free water, free garbage & recycle  pick-up twice a week, street sweeping once  week, oh and snow clearing on our sidewalk within 48h.

I feel like that entire city was full of make-work projects & contracts.  Just cutting back a bit on the services could save millions but then their buddies wouldn't get the contracts.

[sol]

According to ITEP’s Tax Inequality Index, Washington has the most unfair state and local tax system in the country.

That's not really a surprise, though.  Income taxes take most of their money from rich people, but Washington has no state income tax.  Sales taxes take most of their money from poor people, and Washington has high sales taxes.  The property taxes here are about a wash.

States are going to get their revenue from some combination of those three sources.  If you are paying high property taxes then you are probably paying less income and sales tax.  I'm not sure it makes sense to complain too much about any one of those without also considering the other two.

[dilinger]

I far prefer the high sales tax approach of WA state. People label it as regressive and it is, but since groceries are excluded it also gives people a lot of freedom to decide how much tax they actually want to pay. I'm happy to let tourists and consumers shoulder the burden and pay a fairly minimal amount of tax compared to my income.

Property tax on home assessed at 600K: 4800
Income tax: 0
Sales tax paid: 10% of a small amount is still fairly small

Of course, WA isn't actually funding its education system..  Last Sept my kid was out of school while the public school teachers went on strike.  Whether or not that's due to a lack of funds is still up for debate.  http://crosscut.com/2015/09/a-step-by-step-guide-to-washingtons-school-funding-problems/

As someone who hates income taxes due to complexity, I'd be perfectly content if they raised property and sales taxes some more to make up for it.  I know it's regressive and all that, but if they (both state & fed gov'ts) can't figure out how to simplify the income tax code, then screw 'em.

EDIT: property assessed at $574k - property tax currently $5056/yr.

[former player]

0.3% property tax
20% sales tax (food 0%)
20% total income tax (first 10k exempt)
Decent to outstanding schools
Free healthcare

UK.

You guys are making me rethink that "land of the free" thing - makes me think I'm getting a screaming deal.

[Monkey Uncle]

606.20$ a YEAR -  Outskirts of Greenville SC

Looks like you're the winner so far.  But I'm close - after the recent expiration of an excess levy for the school system, my property taxes just went down to $750/yr on a 2,600 sf 5 bed/3 bath house. 

Yes, the school system sucks.  But it is still possible to get a decent education, if a student is self-motivated and has supportive parents (at least that was our experience with our son).  Students who get on the "advanced" track have opportunities for an o.k. education.  The general ed track is basically just free babysitting. 

The board of education is trying to re-instate the levy.  I'm planning to vote against it out of principle because the population has been declining for decades and now we have a bunch of half-empty old schools that all need a lot of expensive maintenance and renovations.  Since the levy expired, the board has been threatening to consolidate the schools.  I think they're just making threats to try to scare people into voting for the levy.  If they were to actually follow through and close some of the schools, I probably would vote for the levy so they would have enough money to properly decommission the closed facilities.  But I don't want to continue subsidizing people who choose to live in the hinterlands and then expect every one else to pay to keep their half-empty neighborhood school open.

[Much Fishing to Do]

I'm paying about $3k/yr on a $250K house (an avg house around here), but we also have school system income tax of 2% of earned income, so the overall burden effectively dials down when you retire.  The schools are very good which matters to me as I have 3 children in them.  Growing up myself in a place were they were horrible (and unsafe), and considering the cost of private schooling for a decade for each child, I consider it one of the greatest deals I get.

[KarefulKactus15]

606.20$ a YEAR -  Outskirts of Greenville SC

Looks like you're the winner so far.  But I'm close - after the recent expiration of an excess levy for the school system, my property taxes just went down to $750/yr on a 2,600 sf 5 bed/3 bath house. 

Yes, the school system sucks.  But it is still possible to get a decent education, if a student is self-motivated and has supportive parents (at least that was our experience with our son).  Students who get on the "advanced" track have opportunities for an o.k. education.  The general ed track is basically just free babysitting. 

The board of education is trying to re-instate the levy.  I'm planning to vote against it out of principle because the population has been declining for decades and now we have a bunch of half-empty old schools that all need a lot of expensive maintenance and renovations.  Since the levy expired, the board has been threatening to consolidate the schools.  I think they're just making threats to try to scare people into voting for the levy.  If they were to actually follow through and close some of the schools, I probably would vote for the levy so they would have enough money to properly decommission the closed facilities.  But I don't want to continue subsidizing people who choose to live in the hinterlands and then expect every one else to pay to keep their half-empty neighborhood school open.

Your house is 2x as big as mine, so that accounts for that... 

As a side note,  there are some crazy cheap places to live in west virginia.  I was cruising around zillow around where my grandparents used to live ( abandoned coal town) and there were houses from 10-30k.   Theres not much around though.... lol

[Paul der Krake]

For the record, Washington has the most regressive state and local tax system in the nation :(

http://www.itep.org/whopays/states/washington.php

According to that link, the bottom 20% spends 12.6% of their income on sales & excise tax. Assuming they pay no federal taxes, are exempt from FICA, have a sweet gig where they somehow pay nothing for rent or groceries (exempt from sales tax), and spend every single dollar they earn on items subject to sales tax, I still don't see how they could reach 12.6%.

[nobodyspecial]

What does the USA spend all this property tax money on ???

Here in super-taxed Canada, my $1M shack (=Vancouver) is $2K/year in taxes. Water is an extra $500/year
According to the bill the majority is schools, then transit/fire/police/roads are 5-10% each

Is it just that income tax is higher here and cities are subsidized by the government, or is there some major public expenditure south of the border?

[Roland of Gilead]

What does the USA spend all this property tax money on ???

Public pensions in a lot of places have bankrupted local governments, so a lot of the tax money is just paying for past retirement, not current services.

[lizzzi]

606.20$ a YEAR -  Outskirts of Greenville SC

Looks like you're the winner so far.  But I'm close - after the recent expiration of an excess levy for the school system, my property taxes just went down to $750/yr on a 2,600 sf 5 bed/3 bath house. 

Yes, the school system sucks.  But it is still possible to get a decent education, if a student is self-motivated and has supportive parents (at least that was our experience with our son).  Students who get on the "advanced" track have opportunities for an o.k. education.  The general ed track is basically just free babysitting. 

The board of education is trying to re-instate the levy.  I'm planning to vote against it out of principle because the population has been declining for decades and now we have a bunch of half-empty old schools that all need a lot of expensive maintenance and renovations.  Since the levy expired, the board has been threatening to consolidate the schools.  I think they're just making threats to try to scare people into voting for the levy.  If they were to actually follow through and close some of the schools, I probably would vote for the levy so they would have enough money to properly decommission the closed facilities.  But I don't want to continue subsidizing people who choose to live in the hinterlands and then expect every one else to pay to keep their half-empty neighborhood school open.

Your house is 2x as big as mine, so that accounts for that... 

As a side note,  there are some crazy cheap places to live in west virginia.  I was cruising around zillow around where my grandparents used to live ( abandoned coal town) and there were houses from 10-30k.   Theres not much around though.... lol

Thought West Virginia might be worth looking at--one of my grand-dads was from there, and several greats and the immigrant great-greats--and it's nice down there--still actually have some distant WV relatives. So I checked Zillow to see what might be for sale in that part of the (rural, hilly, isolated) county. lol  Zillow had 0 homes. Zero. So who knows what the taxes might be.

[Goldielocks]

What does the USA spend all this property tax money on ???

Here in super-taxed Canada, my $1M shack (=Vancouver) is $2K/year in taxes. Water is an extra $500/year
According to the bill the majority is schools, then transit/fire/police/roads are 5-10% each

Is it just that income tax is higher here and cities are subsidized by the government, or is there some major public expenditure south of the border?

Well,  I am also in the vancouver area, and my $800k home is taxed at $3k, plus $880 for water and trash...   not including the $500 home owner grant.

Friends with a $1.5 Million "dump" e,gm 1965 home, 1500 sq.ft, no renovations, in north van (LOL, the appraised value of their home is $30k, the rest is land value), pay $6000 per year, all in...  for taxes.

Not sure what city in vancouver you live in, but Surrey is lowest, I thought, and they pay  $4.4 / $1000 assessed value.  A $1 million house would cost $4400 + $800 water / sewer / trash - $500 home owner grant  = $4700/ year in taxes.

Heck Vancouver tax rate is over $3/$1000,  and you don't get a lot of space for your dollar there...

UNLESS
Are you over 65 and get the seniors discount?  Old people are subsidized here.

[Lizzaroo]

Went from 7800 in 2015 to 8400 in 2016. Illinois

Holy hell!
Under $700 in Indiana and $1720 for rental in Michigan (no homestead exemption). Both 100-150k homes.
Makes you want to really do your research before an interstate move!

[Radagast]

Damn, people. On our $210,000 duplex we pay something like $768. Per year. If I recall the city assesses only the land, not the structures. I am definitely not complaining. I do pay a flat $2k per year for water which is a little unfair, my coworker pays half that and has six kids and four bathrooms, but I get billed double for my two kitchen two bath duplex with tiny yard and four occupants.. the complaining is endless.

[Rural]

Just under $1,100 annually for house, barn, and 25 acres, but we have the land under a conservation easement which pretty well makes up for it being zoned residential instead of agricultural.

[obstinate]

24k/y in the Bay Area. My taxes are so high because many people pay almost nothing thanks to prop 13. So those of us who have bought recently have to pay for their services in addition to our own.

[Monkey Uncle]

606.20$ a YEAR -  Outskirts of Greenville SC

Looks like you're the winner so far.  But I'm close - after the recent expiration of an excess levy for the school system, my property taxes just went down to $750/yr on a 2,600 sf 5 bed/3 bath house. 

Yes, the school system sucks.  But it is still possible to get a decent education, if a student is self-motivated and has supportive parents (at least that was our experience with our son).  Students who get on the "advanced" track have opportunities for an o.k. education.  The general ed track is basically just free babysitting. 

The board of education is trying to re-instate the levy.  I'm planning to vote against it out of principle because the population has been declining for decades and now we have a bunch of half-empty old schools that all need a lot of expensive maintenance and renovations.  Since the levy expired, the board has been threatening to consolidate the schools.  I think they're just making threats to try to scare people into voting for the levy.  If they were to actually follow through and close some of the schools, I probably would vote for the levy so they would have enough money to properly decommission the closed facilities.  But I don't want to continue subsidizing people who choose to live in the hinterlands and then expect every one else to pay to keep their half-empty neighborhood school open.

Your house is 2x as big as mine, so that accounts for that... 

As a side note,  there are some crazy cheap places to live in west virginia.  I was cruising around zillow around where my grandparents used to live ( abandoned coal town) and there were houses from 10-30k.   Theres not much around though.... lol

Thought West Virginia might be worth looking at--one of my grand-dads was from there, and several greats and the immigrant great-greats--and it's nice down there--still actually have some distant WV relatives. So I checked Zillow to see what might be for sale in that part of the (rural, hilly, isolated) county. lol  Zillow had 0 homes. Zero. So who knows what the taxes might be.

I don't think Zillow is very accurate or complete for this area.  Try realtor.com and search for your county of interest.

[lizzzi]

Bumping.

[Jack]

I live in the City of Atlanta (not the suburbs), biking distance from downtown or midtown, in a 3bed/2bath 1500 ft² house. Assessed value is $115K, but actual value is probably closer to $150-200K. If I renovated the kitchen and bathrooms, it would be worth $300K+.

My taxes are $1200 this year (up from $650 in 2013, when the assessed value was really low). My next-door neighbor's taxes are $3500/year on a similar-but-renovated house, assessed at $285K.

There are two interesting things about how property tax works around here. First, we have a Homestead Option Sales Tax (HOST) which subsidizes the first $X worth of property value from sales taxes. For a cheap property like mine, it probably cuts my tax nearly in half compared with it should be based on the millage rate. (Conversely, it means the tax penalty for making improvements is larger than what it would otherwise be, which is unfortunate.) Second, capital improvements to the school system tend to be funded by a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) instead of property tax. Between the HOST, SPLOST, MARTA (transit) sales tax, and the additional MARTA and transportation sales tax that I hope we pass later this year, our sales tax will be up to 9%, I think.

[sol]

our sales tax will be up to 9%, I think.

Pshhh, I dream of the good old days when we only paid 9% sales tax.

[Jack]

our sales tax will be up to 9%, I think.

Pshhh, I dream of the good old days when we only paid 9% sales tax.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about it! First of all, it means the tourists and people who commute in from the suburbs are subsidizing us city folks. Second, high sales taxes encourage (to some extent, at least) mustachian habits. Third, although sales taxes are unfortunately regressive, GA exempts groceries so it could be worse.

[FIPurpose]

Yep another person here from Vancouver, WA. Very good tax structure for Mustachians.

0% State Income
9.9% Sales Tax (But don't buy much of anything or shop in Portland, probably totals less that $1000 per year.)
1.5% property tax (so about $1500 on a 180,000 condo.)
I think last year my wife and I made about $125000 and paid about 8% in federal income.
7.7% FICA taxes (this is a future benefit though)

So in total we pay about 17% effective tax (not counting gas tax which might add at most 2%). I'm not sure what all the Canadians and Europeans are saying about our taxes being high. The US might have high tax brackets, but there are huge deductions on income tax that lower that rate significantly. On our federal married couples can combine income and get the first $20k tax free, then about the next $20k at 10%. The tax deductions are even more ridiculous if you have kids. This doesn't even include all the benefits the US government hands out in the form of ROTH or HSA accounts.

Property taxes, especially in WA, are a function of local counties. They pay for police, fire, etc. At least where I live they calculate property taxes each year based on City, County and State needs.

Total Tax Revenue Needs / Total Property Value of County = Property Tax rate that year.

They do it this way so that taxes do not wildly fluctuate with property prices and taxes per house do not relatively change too much either. At least at the moment, WA is a gold mine for engineers and other middle-high income earners.