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Sounds like mostly good ideas, with a couple that have already been done, I think: 3) # Give me a listing of all the houses in my city sorted by (value of hous

Sounds like mostly good ideas, with a couple that have already been done, I think: 3) # Give me a listing of all the houses in my city sorted by (value of house/taxes paid). That would go a long way to bringing equity to the assessment system. txcountydata.com. Let me also add that I don't know that there's a lot of inequity in the system. In my town, the only inequity is that some properties haven't been assessed as recently as others, and that has everything to do with a lack of manpower and the amount of energy a property owner is willing to expend in his defense (i.e., you're not being treated unfairly if you don't even bother to fill out the protest form). 11) Sort car models by crash and repair data. Consumer Reports has a limited form of this, doesn't it?

pchristensen 18y ago
"I don't know that there's a lot of inequity in the system." CA has capped property increasesat a couple percent (3%?), much lower than price appreciation historically. Taxes are only reassessed when sold. So if you move into a house, your neighbor in an identical house next door might be paying half, a quarter, a tenth, or less of the property tax as you. People love the tax cap but it makes moving expensive (b/c of reassessment), encourages only large, expensive housing to be approved, which drives up prices, which exacerbates the tax imbalance, etc. I'm sure a lot of people would be horrified to know how different the taxation on similar property is. Imagine if you had to pay 30% sales tax when you moved to a new town while old timers were paying 3%.
- aggieben 18y ago
  It's not dissimilar in Texas. I guess I just don't see the inequity here. I suppose one important difference is that there are some municipalities (like mine) that recognize the lost revenue and are trying to get caught up (i.e., assessments change in the absence of a transaction), but even without that, I just don't see it as inequitable. encourages only large, expensive housing to be approved Huh? Haven't you heard of D. R. Horton? Maybe the CA real estate market is different because it's freaking insane. I'm sure a lot of people would be horrified to know how different the taxation on similar property is. Imagine if you had to pay 30% sales tax when you moved to a new town while old timers were paying 3%. I'm equally sure that a lot of those horrified people would be far less horrified if they understood why things are the way they are (maybe not Californicators, though. If you live in CA, you're probably just horrified all the time).

pchristensen 18y ago

"I don't know that there's a lot of inequity in the system." CA has capped property increasesat a couple percent (3%?), much lower than price appreciation historically. Taxes are only reassessed when sold. So if you move into a house, your neighbor in an identical house next door might be paying half, a quarter, a tenth, or less of the property tax as you. People love the tax cap but it makes moving expensive (b/c of reassessment), encourages only large, expensive housing to be approved, which drives up prices, which exacerbates the tax imbalance, etc. I'm sure a lot of people would be horrified to know how different the taxation on similar property is. Imagine if you had to pay 30% sales tax when you moved to a new town while old timers were paying 3%.

aggieben 18y ago
It's not dissimilar in Texas. I guess I just don't see the inequity here. I suppose one important difference is that there are some municipalities (like mine) that recognize the lost revenue and are trying to get caught up (i.e., assessments change in the absence of a transaction), but even without that, I just don't see it as inequitable. encourages only large, expensive housing to be approved Huh? Haven't you heard of D. R. Horton? Maybe the CA real estate market is different because it's freaking insane. I'm sure a lot of people would be horrified to know how different the taxation on similar property is. Imagine if you had to pay 30% sales tax when you moved to a new town while old timers were paying 3%. I'm equally sure that a lot of those horrified people would be far less horrified if they understood why things are the way they are (maybe not Californicators, though. If you live in CA, you're probably just horrified all the time).