With the housing market down, will the property tax go down as well?

Question

How does that work? I thought that the property tax was determined by the value of the property and since the property values are going down will that decrease the taxes that we have to pay on them?

Answer 1

Maybe.  In my state, California, property taxes are 1% of the assessed value of the property.  If the assessment goes down so does the taxes.

Answer 2

Probably not.  Many areas have reassessed the value of the properties on the tax rolls, however the tax RATE had to rise to compensate to raise the needed revenue.  In many cases, you'd still see an increase in the property tax bill even though the assessed value was reduced.

Answer 3

If you live in an area (like CA) where taxes are based on the value of your house, you can have the assessor come and reevaluate the value of your house and have your taxes lowered.

But you typically have to ask, since they won't volunteer that.  And don't do it if houses in your area are selling for more than what you paid for yours, or they will reassess you at a higher rate.

Answer 4

Your county still has the same budget even if property values go down, so when values drop, if you are reassessed, tax rates (cost per $100 value) increase to compensate to keep the same amount of money collected.  So dropping property values almost never result in a tax decrease.  The exception I believe is in CA, where there is a tax cap, so taxes cannot be more than a certain percentage of value of your home.