Real Estate taxes..how much of yours goes to schools and what state do you live in?

[ArwenMarie]

$20,000 a year

You can probably guess what state

 

[MillauFr]

In Seattle we pay about 0.6% of the value of our house every year. Schools get about 50% of the money.

 

[wendow]

In Seattle we pay about 0.6% of the value of our house every year. Schools get about 50% of the money.

Pretty much same here in Denver CO area.

 

[mjkacmom]

Over 50%, we have one of the highest per pupil cost in the nation. Our state has the highest property taxes in the country, my county has the highest property taxes in the state. Our local schools have trailers, because most of the money goes towards poor urban districts, and those schools are still failing.

 

[FINFAN]

$20,000 a year

You can probably guess what state

lol...one I won't be moving to!

 

[MillauFr]

Over 50%, we have one of the highest per pupil cost in the nation. Our state has the highest property taxes in the country, my county has the highest property taxes in the state. Our local schools have trailers, because most of the money goes towards poor urban districts, and those schools are still failing.

What state? In Washington State the urban districts are way better funded than the suburban or rural districts. Even though the City of Seattle has some of the lowest property tax rates in the state the actual tax amounts are some of the highest because housing prices are high. The rural districts have sued the state and demanded that they even out the funding and transfer money from the well funded urban districts to the poor rural districts. It is probably fair even though our property taxes will go up to pay for it.

 

[afan]

Since you are looking at areas to retire you should look a bit past just the taxes. My mom lives in King County, WA and they have a program seniors can apply to that removes the school taxes from their property taxes. It's specifically for seniors and they have to reapply every 2 years. I'm fairly certain it's based on income, it's not just because you hit a certain age. There was even a story about it on the news last year I think it was because there weren't many taking advantage of it because people aren't aware of the program. It helps since she's on a fixed income and the house is paid off.

 

[mjkacmom]

What state? In Washington State the urban districts are way better funded than the suburban or rural districts. Even though the City of Seattle has some of the lowest property tax rates in the state the actual tax amounts are some of the highest because housing prices are high. The rural districts have sued the state and demanded that they even out the funding and transfer money from the well funded urban districts to the poor rural districts. It is probably fair even though our property taxes will go up to pay for it.

New Jersey, I share the same county with Newark, their property taxes are thousands less than ours. I'm in favor of this: http://www.nj.gov/governor/taxrelief/pages/formula.shtml

 

[tvguy]

Since you are looking at areas to retire you should look a bit past just the taxes. My mom lives in King County, WA and they have a program seniors can apply to that removes the school taxes from their property taxes. It's specifically for seniors and they have to reapply every 2 years. I'm fairly certain it's based on income, it's not just because you hit a certain age. There was even a story about it on the news last year I think it was because there weren't many taking advantage of it because people aren't aware of the program. It helps since she's on a fixed income and the house is paid off.

That would never happen here, senior citizens make up a huge chunk of the home owners. We've been in our house 34 years, and 25 years ago there were 50 kids in the 45 houses on my street. Today there are just 5. But everyone on the street is still paying for schools. The demographics have shifted her drastically. I bet they have closed a dozen schools within 10 miles of where I live. Just not enough kids anymore. The outlying school districts 10 years ago couldn't built schools fast enough. They had to go to year round school to fit all the kids in. The recession killed that.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I don't know the amounts, but it is about 2/3, I think. It stinks, because our public schools are among the worst in the state and we send our kids to private school.

 

[tzolkin]

Albany, NY.
Home is assessed at $168,000 (they do a 68.5% assessment value on the "fair market value")

Property Taxes are $2200
School Taxes are $3800

Yep. Ouch is all I can say. Oh, and that's WITH a 25% STAR (School Tax Aid Relief or something) reduction on the School Taxes. And I live in one of the "cheaper" school districts (there's many others that pay even more than that).

By the time I've paid the house off, the taxes will be equal or greater to the mortgage payment, unfortunately. Needless to say I will *not* be retiring in New York.

I'd move, but I have a good job (State job) so I have to wait 23 more years for "full" pension. LOL!. Golden handcuffs as it were.

In contrast my sister lives in Denver, CO and has a 600k house and pays less in taxes than I do.

Yup. We moved from NY to North Carolina a few years ago. Our taxes here are less than 1/3 of yours. ($1700 total on a $230k assessment)

My family in NY all pay around $10,000 in property taxes and I have friends who pay significantly more.

As for the OP, our tax bill does not indicate what percentage is for schools. (In NY, there were separate bills for property and school tax.)

 

[MillauFr]

That would never happen here, senior citizens make up a huge chunk of the home owners. We've been in our house 34 years, and 25 years ago there were 50 kids in the 45 houses on my street. Today there are just 5. But everyone on the street is still paying for schools. The demographics have shifted her drastically. I bet they have closed a dozen schools within 10 miles of where I live. Just not enough kids anymore. The outlying school districts 10 years ago couldn't built schools fast enough. They had to go to year round school to fit all the kids in. The recession killed that.

Do you think proposition 13 is partly responsible for the demographic shift? If you moved into an identical house across the street wouldn't your property taxes skyrocket? No wonder people don't move as much in California.

 

[manning]

I live in Illinios..no explanation needed

YEP!

 

[manning]

That would never happen here, senior citizens make up a huge chunk of the home owners. We've been in our house 34 years, and 25 years ago there were 50 kids in the 45 houses on my street. Today there are just 5. But everyone on the street is still paying for schools. The demographics have shifted her drastically. I bet they have closed a dozen schools within 10 miles of where I live. Just not enough kids anymore. The outlying school districts 10 years ago couldn't built schools fast enough. They had to go to year round school to fit all the kids in. The recession killed that.

Bureaucracy at its finest

 

[tvguy]

Do you think proposition 13 is partly responsible for the demographic shift? If you moved into an identical house across the street wouldn't your property taxes skyrocket? No wonder people don't move as much in California.

No I don't Prop 13 hasn't had any impact on the demographics in my area. Seems most young families want brand new, or nearly new homes. Other than a few bits of infill, my area hasn't seen major new housing projects in 40 years.
Property taxes in California are 1% of what you paid for a house with a cap on annual increases. My property taxes are $2,100 a year. If I were to sell my house for what Zillow says it is worth, $380,000, the new owner would pay $3,800 a year in property taxes.
The core issue that fueled Prop 13 in 1978 was long time homeowners, who were senior citizens on fixed incomes, were paying property taxes that were more than they actually paid for their homes 40, or 50 years ago.

 

[kydisneyfans]

In Kentucky:
Answer: It's hard to tell. Like some others, our property tax is about .6 of assessed value. Of that, nearly 75% is school related. That tax is increasing 9% this year to build a new high school.

BUT:

There is school tax taken from paychecks, on our cable and cel phone bills, the water bill, our car and homeowners insurance policies, our car registration, etc. It's difficult to give a certain dollar amount since it's a nickel and dime system to get the money.