Home values in Snohomish County continued a prolonged slide this year, according to assessment notices that should arrive soon.
Assessment notices being mailed this week show a dip of nearly 13 percent in value for residential properties. That’s the largest falloff since 2008, when housing declines began to show up in county assessments….
You might think then that the taxes on real estate would therefore be less. You would be wrong–they could be, but they may not be. Why?
Because of Washington’s budget-based taxing system, taxes can go up even when property values decline.
[blockquote]Because of Washington’s budget-based taxing system, taxes can go up even when property values decline.[/blockquote]
All your dollar are belong to us.
George Harrison, song [i]Taxman[/i]
“Be thankful I don’t take it all.”
Too bad we don’t get to use our own “budget-based” taxing system when “deciding” how much to fork over to the IRS! 🙁
“Budget-based taxing system” – a 1984 newspeak euphemism for confiscation!
Spend and spend and spend politicians when faced with falling property values, just increase the tax rates.
See how simple it is to solve the problems caused by ‘government creep’ that are causing the need to spend so much and to need so much tax money.
Might be relevant to point out here that highlighted “Washington” in the article refers to the state, not the district.
On the other hand…
A definition of Insanity: Doing something over and over and expecting different results.
We MUST stop electing professional politicians, or at least if we don’t, we must stop expecting them to actually change their spending behavior.
I believe SC has the same system of increasing property taxes even if values drop. After all, the government is predicated on perpetual expansion, so they need more and more $$ regardless of economic conditions.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, taxes are the price we pay for civilization. Roads, armies, a legal system that ensures fairness, and regulations of both wealthy thieves and poor ones cost money. But in a world dominated by a “tax cut” mentality, we think we can get something for nothing. More tax cuts simply means we’ve become a nation of freeloaders who think the institutions that enhance and protect our liberties should be free.
There are many ways to skin a cat, of course, but our current system is increase taxes on the poor and middle class, while letting the the prosperous class further benefit from the increased productivity of their workers, while asking nothing in return for living in a free, and relatively stable, economy.
Hey, John…. Just to clarify, the current budget of the US government for 2012 is $3.8 Trillion dollars. The budget under Bill Clinton in 1998 was $1.7 Trillion dollars. Do you feel like you are getting an extra $2 Trillion dollars worth of government? Sure, there are likely changes we could/should be making to the tax system. I’m actually partial to a flat tax, myself. but the REAL problem is out of control spending by our elected officials. The ‘aggressive cuts’ in Paul Ryan’s Republican budget proposal will still add $6 Trillions dollars to the national debt. President Obama’s ‘aggressive’ response to that proposal that ‘cuts with a scalpel’ will add OVER $9 Trillion to the national debt. I’m sorry, but the problem is not tax revenues, it is bloated, out of control government.
RE: “But in a world dominated by a “tax cut†mentality . . . ”
May this become true.
RE: “More tax cuts simply means we’ve become a nation of freeloaders who think the institutions that enhance and protect our liberties should be free.”
Nah — it means that “the institutions” that are completely useless or worse, harmful, will hopefully go away, unsupported by thieving from the State.