I’m sure you’ve all thought about property tax, especially when it comes time to pay them. But have you ever considered how they work? Aside from the fact that NH schools are funded by them – and you’d think that property taxes were the only funding, but they’re not. The Concord school system receives approximately $100 million a year from the feds, so they can spend approximately $22,000 per child. A child who has been homeschooled needs less than half of that. (I spent $600, but I made my own curriculum, and that was in the 1980s.) And they actually receive a better education. But I digress.
Property taxes. Let’s break it down. You buy property with a house at a certain price. You pay taxes on that amount for maybe the first two years. In Concord, property taxes typically go up by 3% every year.
In addition to that 3%, to keep up with market value, the property needs to be reassessed. Which means of course, that they reassess the house, as well.
So now, you’re paying tax on the price for which you might receive, if you sell the property. Have you received that amount? No?! How often do homes get reassessed? Apparently whenever the market value goes up, although it might be whenever the powers that be need money. All that money that you might have gotten had you sold the house, every year.
So, the house is getting older and you need to make some repairs. To do that, depending on the repairs, you need to get a permit – permission from the powers that be. Now you’re paying to fix a house that is taxed for monies that you’ve never received AND, once you make the repairs, you’re taxed on that because now the house is worth more. The excuse is that you’ve made an improvement on the land, because you repaired what was broken and now the house, and by extension, the land is “improved”.
Now say, you need to sell the house because the taxes are too high. So, you sell the house for what it’s worth on the market – which may or may not be what the property’s tax assessment is. When you’re all done closing the sale, guess what? That profit you made when you sold the house – is taxed!!!
And if you live in an apartment, don’t think for a moment that you’re free and clear. Why do you think your rent goes up every year? Do you really think the property owner pays that?
That’s quite a scam. And please don’t get irritated with the collectors; they don’t make these rules. They just sit on the front lines and take the flak for the ones who do.
But the poor kiddos need an adequate education, which no one seems to know what that might be. Here’s a hint: go back to the primers (elementary grade school books) of the 17- and 1800s. I believe they can be found in the Library of Congress. THAT is an adequate education.
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