Home › Forums › Open Discussion › The value of my house
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October 13, 2015 at 2:28 am #818615
PDieterParticipantCan anyone explain how the value of my house reflects in any way my ability to pay increased taxes?
October 13, 2015 at 3:45 am #828413
wsn00bParticipantThe homeownership/affordability financial/math assumptions brainwashed into the general public is pretty sad. It mostly talks about making your house payment and usually ignores the increasing inflation adjusted/inflation-exceeding costs of taxes and maintenance. If one can’t afford to pay upto 2% of the current value in annual taxes and allocate unto 2% in annual upkeep/repairs then you can’t afford to own the home. For a 400K home, that’s 16K a year. That requires a six-figure income to be truly affordable without being house-poor. If income doesn’t keep up with inflation then the problem is on the income side and not totally on the taxable value side of things.
House-poor is a widely used term. It is just a sad statement about the home ownership scam.
October 13, 2015 at 4:30 am #828414
KBearParticipantAlthough seriously, if the.taxes are what’s breaking you, how are you affording mortgage and maintenance?
October 13, 2015 at 3:30 pm #828415
PDieterParticipantSo no you can’t explain it.
Didn’t say it would “break me”, I’m asking how are the two things reasonably related?
But to respond to the deflection, I’ve lived in it for 20 years and built it myself so both those expenses are reasonable reflections of my income.
October 13, 2015 at 4:05 pm #828416
JTBParticipantThere are two ways of looking at the question:
One: There is no reasonable relation. It is contrived.
Two: It is the way the system determines if you are qualified to own the property. Those who can’t meet the obligation have to sell or face losing the asset.
Most states with no income tax rely on property taxes for operating revenue.
How did you vote on Prop 1098 in 2010 which would impose an income tax on individuals earning $200,000 or more a year? I suspect if that had passed, you might be looking at a different calculation between property value and property tax today.
October 13, 2015 at 4:40 pm #828417
PDieterParticipantObviously I feel an income tax is much more “fair” and support the state changing.
“your” second way of looking at the answer doesn’t seem to be based in any system I’m aware of given skyrocketing of both the assessed value of homes and increasing taxes linked to that assessment.
My real point being that trying to build and maintain the ciy’s growing infrastructure based on passing completely unreasonable taxes is not in our best interest in any way.
October 13, 2015 at 4:54 pm #828418
TanDLParticipantI agree, PDieter. If the constant increase of property taxes doesn’t level out at some point, we are going to change our plans, sell the house and move on. Don’t want to do that cause we’ve raised kids here and consider West Seattle our community. But reality is… our plans for living on a fixed income with constantly rising taxes are causing us anxiety. It’s funny that the current administration touts diversity and concern about affordable housing, but keeps trying to raise property taxes which affects not only homeowner costs but rental costs as well. My thought is that the current administration has no clue about cause and effect or that diversity isn’t just a racial issue. A diverse community should also include senior citizens as well as those of less than middle or upper class status.
October 13, 2015 at 5:28 pm #828419
KBearParticipantSorry, PDieter. I missed your point. You’re right, a property tax doesn’t necessarily reflect one’s ability to pay. It would be better if we had a more balanced tax system including a state income tax.
October 13, 2015 at 5:55 pm #828420
JTBParticipantPDieter, for clarification, my second take was deliberately framed in a cynical way. It may not be the deliberate intent of the system, but it’s how things work in practice.
October 13, 2015 at 6:27 pm #828421
wsn00bParticipantOctober 13, 2015 at 7:20 pm #828422
skeeterParticipantKeep in mind folks – we have a limit on property taxes. Even if assessed *values* increase, the taxes do not increase more than the cap – one percent per year. So our property taxes grow at a slower rate than inflation or the cost of living.
HOWEVER – there is one big exception. If voters approve an additional levy, we can raise property taxes above the 1% limit. State legislators cannot increase property taxes. The governor cannot increase property taxes. The city council cannot increase property taxes. The mayor cannot increase property taxes. But the *voters* can (and do) increase property taxes by approving a levy.
If your property tax bill has increased more than 1%, and I’m sure it has, then you can thank the voters for that. We’ve had a lot of approved levies lately. One for parks. One for libraries. One for schools. There are several others.
I think what we are saying as voters is that we *want* more government services and 51% of us are willing to pay for the increased government services. If there is a person who is unwilling or unable to pay for those increased government services they have three things they can do:
1. Convince 51% of voters to stop approving new levies.
2. Move out of Seattle.
3. Stay in Seattle but find a less valuable property to live in and therefore pay less tax.
Skeeter will one day take option #2 when I can no longer afford to live here. But for now I’m staying because I have the money to afford it.
October 13, 2015 at 7:27 pm #828423
PDieterParticipantyes I saw that article. Which still doesn’t even air my question. Even seeming to dismiss the concerns of any household with more than 50K of income, as if as long as you don’t loose your house you’re ok.
When I remodeled I included an ADU which the city says it wants; more “affordable” housing. Where’s my property tax break? Nope, it increases the value of my home so tax increase. (On a side note where was any incentive for owner occupied homes to add ADU’s? Nadia it was all incentive for absentee landlords)
I want the city to prosper as it grows and build better transportation and housing options, but if no one is even going to discuss the fairness of the cost burden…then screw it. I’m done voting for anything that increases property taxes; and I doubt I’m alone.
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