Quote:
Originally Posted by pwd72s
Despite a "property tax limit" initiative passing here some years back, Oregon is a high property tax state. The amount varies from location to location, depending on the bond measures the local politicians conned the voters into.
On my home it's around $15 per thousand...taxes are higher within the city limits. Your $500,000 home would be around $7,500 in the unincorporated county...in town? Double that..
|
This is because Oregon has zero sales tax. They are going to get the money from somewhere.
The citizen initiative Paul refers to was modified by the legislature, and the taxes are capped so they can increase only 3% a year. But, there are exceptions:
[1] is when you buy a house they boost the property taxes to the actual assessment value -- seems fair, but when a home buyer looks on the sell sheet they see property taxes per year of $1,200 or some such, then when they buy the house they get a bill for $7,000 each year. That would be typical for Eugene, the 2nd largest city in the state - I think Paul is just pulling the $15,000 number out of an orifice somewhere, tho it would make sense for a spendy home in Portland.
[2] is if you do any remodeling they boost & again it is to the current assessed value -- in my county they will also lie about whether what you did (say you do just repairs - they will claim it is really remodeling) and will illegally use the actual amount you paid, not the _value_ (which is what is required by law).
If you are a lawyer you can challenge them, threaten some fun discovery on the models they use, and make it so they settle (compromise) on a value that is lower -- they do this because they know you are going to make them spend lots & lots of effort and tax $$ fighting you off. If you have to hire a lawyer, they know you will lose money in fees and they can just stonewall you. That is why only big corp.s with staff attorneys usually challenge it -- individuals and small businesses get the shaft.