Perhaps no public policy debate raises the ire of Georgians quite like property taxes.
State legislators often say it is the issue they most frequently hear about from the folks back home, especially in recent years as the housing market boomed.
It is the issue that my organization, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, often receives the most queries about. Typically, these come from seniors on fixed incomes.
“Mr. Denson… my ‘fair’ market value that my home was assessed by went up ~37% from my 2021 property taxes.”
Well, this might finally be the year the Georgia legislature provides some much-needed property tax relief: a state Senate committee recently held their first hearing on a bill that would cap the assessed value on a homeowner’s primary residence at no more than a 3% per year increase.
Escalating property taxes typically come from these assessments, which are also the least transparent – and most confusing. Fair market value is primarily determined by an aggregate of local deed transactions over the past year, then projected to anticipate what the value will be on January 1.