Someone on nextdoor posts "property tax is based on value of theproperty, not county services. "It couldn't be this simple. Some of the houses around here** havepublic streets that the county patches and repaves and plows the snowfrom, public street lights that the county pays the electricity for andrepairs when broken, public trash collection. Where I live we have public trash collection but not the first two. And where the guy at the top of this post, Top, lives, they have none ofthem. In nearby Howard County, "residences that pay a yearly trash andrecycling fee ($365 per year) on their property tax bill. Fees for MainStreet, Ellicott City may vary." That's the kind of adjustment I had inmind, but there are none such for my tax bill. No extra fee for trash,no discount for no street plowing or paving, or county street lightsAll things being equal, Top's condo's assessed value (and market value)should be less because of the high HOA fee he has to pay (well over300/month), but I have the feeling that it's not. I certainly didn'tknow or consider HOA fees when I bought this house (In fact I was fromout of town and didn't know there was an HOA until the closing.)(If his HOA fee is 4000/year, that's a 5% return on 80,000. Soshouldn't his condo cost 80,000 less than if he had these services? Doesthe county assessor make an adjustment in his valuation, and does he doso for not owning one's own streets, or does he just go by the typicalsales price?) **(Baltimore County fwiw, but isn't the whole country pretty much thesame?)

No, the whole country isn't pretty much the same. You'll have toactually investigate the conditions at your location.My property tax doesn't include trash pickup. For those who livewithin the City of Ann Arbor, their property tax includes trash pickup.It's conceivable that two people who live across the street from oneanother would have different arrangements for payment of those services.

How simple is the property tax calculation?

Oct 01, 2023 Last reply: 2 years ago 22 Replies

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Cindy Hamilton 2 years ago

Not really. If you buy a house, the taxable value on it is similar to what it would be if that law didn't exist. If you stay in your house, your taxes remain pretty low.

The purpose of the law (enacted by a vote of the people in 1994) was to equalize school funding in rich and poor districts alike. It was also pitched a way to reduce property taxes, which were much higher in Michigan than in other states.

The state put out a report on the success of the measure in 2002. It was more successful at controlling property taxes than at equalizing school revenue. The rich districts found ways to raise more money than the poor districts, as you might expect.

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Skid Marks 2 years ago

Math is racist. Diplomas are racist. Vote down all school mileages.

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micky 2 years ago

The purpose of the law is good, what you say and that it keeps people who live in the same house while the taxes go up from being driven from their house by taes.

But it has the effect of benefiting those who live in the same house for a long time at the expense of those who move for whatever reason. Why should immobile people benefit while others pay (Speaking as someone who's live 40 years in this house nd 11 years in the previous apartment.)

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