The more we hear the "experts" (those who are responsible for the tax) explaining reassessment, the sillier it gets. As a result of this yeas reassessment, many taxpayers are complaining that their property tax bills have gone up drastically and in most cases, that is true. Some "experts" say the increase is due to the fact that these particular taxpayers benefitted from the 15% cap on the last reassessment. Others say the increase is due to the fact that counties reassess in different years. However, all "experts" say it equals out in the end.
BUT, there is one question none of the "experts" have been able to answer to our satisfaction. That simple question is:
If this process is so fair and equals out over time, why, when the tax bills go UP, they go UP by HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS, but, when they go DOWN, they go down by SINGLE DIGITS?
This scenario reminds us of a tale we once heard. The tale is about an old man who sharecropped cotton for a rich landowner. At the end of the season, the old man went in for his annual reckoning. After much figuring, the landowner announced that the old farmer had done a great job and had managed to break even that year.
The old man, astonished, asked, "Do you mean you won't be paying me ANYTHING extra?"
The landowner said, "Well, when we deduct the cost of the food you got from the company store this year AND the rent for your house I provide, AND those doctor bills for your kids last winter, there just isn't anything left.
The old man sat there in deep thought and finally said, "Well, maybe the wife and kids can go around the fence rows and on the ditch banks and, maybe, gather up another bale or two cause I was counting on getting the kids shoes and coats for winter."
Shocked, the landowner asked, "Do you mean to tell me you could possibly get two more bales out of your fields?"
The old man said, "Maybe."
The landowner said, "Well, in that case, we're going to have to refigure this whole thing."
Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
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4 comments:
Believe it or not when I lived in Alabama in the 1980s I knew a black woman who 'gleened' the fields after the automated cotton pickers were done (farmers allowed this because they had no intention of gathering the left over cotton by hand)… this lady spent her weekends in the fields, and with the money she made she paid for her 3 kids to attend Auburn University (no student loans for her kids)… oh and about reassessments… how is it possible for the bottom to fall out of housing prices… and yet the value according to the county continues to go up and up and up? My house purchased in 1997 is now worth $100,000 more than I paid for it… isn't that interesting?
WHAT THEY FORGET TO TELL YOU BY MAKING IT LIKE WELL, WE USED 2009 VALUES TO DO THE 2014 REASSESSMENT VALUES BUT THE 2009 VALUES ALSO WENT UP 15%.NOT DOWN.ITS ALL MUMBO JUMBO TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE THEY ARE LOOKING OUT FOR THE TAX PAYERS WHEN THEY ARE FILLING THEIR COFFERS WITH MONEY FOR THE BIG RAISES FOR THE HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS NOT THE WORKERS.
Everybody in Berkeley County should file an appeal for high values. Make the Assessor prove the high values, bet they can't.
Everyone should voice their opinion to the Assessor or Director of Real Property Services, Wilson Baggett at 843-719-4072. I heard the reassessment mail out is very near and you will have 90 days to appeal, so appeal period will last from June to September 2014 to correct the 2014 tax bills.
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