With a runup in home values sparking higher property taxes for many Georgia homeowners, there is a groundswell among state lawmakers in this election year to provide relief.
Georgia’s Senate Finance Committee plans a hearing on Monday on a bill limiting increases in a home’s value, as assessed for property tax purposes, to 3% per year. The limit would last as long as the owner maintained a homestead exemption. Voters would have to approve the plan in a November referendum.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington proposes doubling the state’s homestead tax exemption, a measure likely to cut tax bills by nearly $100 million statewide.
That’s not really fair.
First off, we’re talking thousands of dollars per year, not $7.79. Secondly, the value of the property doesn’t matter unless they’re selling (or getting a reverse mortgage or something else). If it’s someone who bought a house to live in and they aren’t planning to sell, it doesn’t matter if it’s valued at $50k or $500k or $5M… except where property taxes are concerned.
And if some family in Georgia is used to paying, and has budgeted for, $5000-$7500 per year in taxes, and suddenly that rises to $7000-$10500 because of something they have no control over and aren’t benefitting from for the above reasons, that is bad.
They can move and start renting like other poors have to do.
I know it sounds cynical, but poors can’t afford the increase in cost of living either. Do you know what a household who rents could do with an extra 3-5 thousand dollars per year?
And I’m not against the middle class. But when you see someone with literally millions of dollars in equity complaining about an extra few hundred dollars per month, I see how it can be a little infuriating.
Millions might be an exaggeration in some places. But the equity is going up ten times the increase cost for property taxes.
Ah, yes. Let’s consolidate wealth even more heavily among the already-rich. Good suggestion.
Yeah, I’m sure they’d have no problem paying that.
What about the people with $400k in equity, who are on fixed incomes, who were paying $2.5k in taxes, and are now paying $4k and can’t afford it? Oh, yeah. Fuck them, right?
Again, equity is meaningless if you aren’t selling the property (or otherwise leveraging it), which most people claiming a homestead exemption are not doing. For them, it’s just less money they have each month.
This attitude that anyone who managed to buy a home is part of the 1% and fuck those people is just toxic.
As it stands now, Georgia assesses property tax at 40% of market rate, with a $2000 tax exemption for primary homes. Highest property tax rate in Georgia is 1.66%.
So if you own a million-dollar property, you’ll have to shell out a whopping [checks notes] $4640 per year, or under 400$ per month.
But I’m sure plenty of ordinary people are being priced onto the streets. /s
That’s fine and dandy if you bought the house for half a mill or more. Where it’s fucking people over along side home owners insurance is when the house was bought for 75k decades ago and is now worth a million or more. Those people are are likely retired and on a fixed income or have kids in college and other expenses that go along with raising a family.
You seem extremely out of touch if you think that $400/month going to local property taxes is not make or break for some families. My wife and I make well into 6 figures between us and even where we live it’s getting tougher to budget for everything and include the odd night out or weekend getaway so that we aren’t only working. For example, my wife is now on ozempic and because it’s the beginning of the year most of the cost ($700/month after manufacturer discount) is 100%/on us until we hit our deductible. Not to mention the shit you can’t plan for like a pet needing a vet visit NOW and having to find $1k+ for that visit.
In short. I don’t think you have ever lived on your own or with someone other than parents or other guardians. You have no idea what it’s actually like trying to stay afloat nor do you have any idea what an unexpected increase of even few hundred a month in property taxes can do to a budget that has been meticulously planned.
They have a house that has appreciated in value by 925k.
I think the obvious fucking solution is apparent.
Yes, of course, all those things only home owners know. /s
Are you fucking kidding me.
You’re sitting here saying that someone with a million dollar home paying 400$ a month in “I can live here a little longer” bills is the ultimate in needing a fucking pity party and relief as the value of their property that they own continues to increase?
You do fucking realize that most of us out here fucking renting are renting at well over that price, right? 400$ won’t get you a leaky fucking apartment in the backwoods. I should know, I fucking live in one.
From the article
Oh, okay, so them owning a significantly more valuable piece of property to pass down to their kids is okay if they aren’t planning on selling it. And, I mean, if they decide to sell it anyway, we should be understanding that that wasn’t their plan. They can keep paying that $7.79, so sorry.
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Literally no one? Sorry for thinking that home ownership shouldn’t result in ever-increasing value for ever-reduced tax rates?
You do realize the point of an example given by an appraiser to a state fucking legislature is to demonstrate an issue, right?
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Clearly, you don’t get it. The rest of us are expected to move with the change of property values and the shifting market, but the argument being made here is that the people who are best suited to weather such a change, those with property that they can sell and actually returns value to them, should be insulated from the horrific offense of having to pay [checks notes] a tax of 1% of its value to the government that sustains their community.
Maybe you should redirect this irritation and channel it into lobbying for legislation that would cap rent increases, too, to also insulate the other half of the population from the effects of increased property values? It doesn’t have to be a matter of “It’s bad for me therefore it must be bad for everyone else, too” unless you make it one.
That’s also not viable. Property values aren’t just some abstract that don’t matter. As long as we’re living in a market economy, the idea of “Just implement price freezes!” doesn’t work so long as the increase of valuation is driven by actual value factors and not just greed.
Again, to someone who is not selling their home, there is no “actual value” being increased. It’s not like someone is coming around and saying “Hey, your house is pretty run down… would you like $40k in free renovations? Please note that this will increase your property taxes due to the improvements.” It’s because of supply and demand, and low mortgage rates driving an increase in people buying homes, and the real thing you should be railing against are the habitual landlords buying tons of properties to rent, not the families who own a home that they live in. They are not the problem.
Edit: To add some context to this, there are currently ~28 vacant homes in the US for every homeless person. It’s not a matter of there not being enough homes out there - there would be plenty, if every home was owned by one family. Far more than enough. It’s folks buying up swaths of land to rent out, and price fixing those rentals, that are causing the problems, both for families who can afford to buy homes, and for people who are renting.
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Sure, and railing against those property tax rebates is one thing, but as what you quoted says, that’s not the norm. Property taxes are a problem across the country right now, not just in Georgia (as the article notes), and other states are also passing measures to help.
This also is part of a homestead exemption, so it’s not stopping people who own multiple properties from paying higher taxes.
A family owning a home and passing it on to their kids is not a problem, and I’m not sure why you’re framing it as one. It’s also not like it’s just one family’s home that’s rising in value while everything else stagnates; that hypothetical family who chooses to sell is not getting rich from the decision. Either they’re moving to renting, and paying high rental rates, or they’re buying elsewhere and paying the current market value of that property.