My property was recently reappraised in the Town of Genesee and reassessed, as were the properties in the City of Milwaukee where I resided for over 40 years before building my home in Genesee.
I’ve been a critic of the fundamental process of using property value as the basis for taxing homeowners for city and school expenditures ever since I owned my first home in Milwaukee.
My understanding is that using property value as basis for determining an individual’s share of total tax collection is not based on use or service rendered, (meaning higher property values do not require more city or school services than lower valued property), but that property value is used to determine, “ability to pay,” or simply stated, the assumption is, “if you can afford a higher value home, you can afford to pay higher taxes.”
Two neighbors, identical properties, different assessments
While at first blush, this might look fair and equitable, let’s take a look at this unrealistic assumption by reviewing a few of many scenarios, that while hypothetical, exist in all communities. Let’s first look at two neighbors, both 37 years old, and 30 years from retirement, and both with an identical 30-year mortgage at the same bank. We’ll call them Tom and Dick, (we’ll discuss Harry later) and they both have an annual income of $60,000, own a home valued at $300,000 and pay $6,000 in property taxes annually…