The Current Property Tax System

http://nwi.com/articles/2009/03/10/news/lake/doc12017e7a3aeefc0b8625757400791872.txt

I think most everyone agrees there has to be a better way. Spending $millions for yet another reassessment seems pretty stupid to me. As many here know I have been a proponent of a 2 tier flat tax on, at the very least homesteaded, property. And sometimes business property taxes are really more of a guess & an agreement such as in the case of the casinos, the mills, and BP and at least in Lake County that has been where a lot of our property tax revenues have come from.

And people in the county complain when daniels says no more money is coming to LC.

This is the exact reason why.

How come that woman who asked for more money for police vehicles and officers was not at the council meeting asking for the same money for police officers and vehicles?

Can you imaging how many cops $1 mil would pay for? But instead we get to spend money like crazy just for someone to figure out what you own and how much of it the government can confiscate.

The whole problem with this is that the state won't let the people elected to do this job to do it, but they say it has to be done. This should be done by the township and county assessors. If the county is too big to do all in one year, then do like Cook county and break the county up into sections and do one section each year.

Or like I said make the tax simple so that there's not much to have to estimate.

Now I've heard the argument that a flat tax is unfair to the poor but when you boil it down it amounts to a greedy desire to soak the rich, really.

My point of contention is that property taxes should only fund core services such as police & fire protection, maintaining parks and public buildings, schools, and mostly just the things everyone agrees local government needs to provide. The gray area budget items can be funded by sales or income taxes, and I would maintain after initial installation any raising of that tax would need to be by voter approval. But nobody really rallies to this way of thinking. As a result we pay way too much for far to little benefit IMO.

I believe about the time of his last election Sen Murvan said the state looked into various changes to property taxes from no property taxes, to a type of flat tax, to a reduced tax tier, but when it was all said & done in the end we wound up with the same type of system but now with a greater expense despite the capped rates. So this becomes very bad because as local government is capped more of the available pie is going to the reassessment mandate. Again, $1 mil here or there is pretty important even on the county level. So instead that lost budget money eventually gets made up via other taxes. So just how are we really better off?

Commissioners voted Monday to require that firms interested in doing the reassessment attend a March 17 pre-bid conference and have their bids submitted to the county by March 25.

The Calumet Township assessor in Gary, the Ross Township assessor in Merrillville and the St. John Township assessor in St. John would like to do the reassessment with their own staffs. They claim they could do it more efficiently and provide additional money to their employees.

Lake Commissioners Roosevelt Allen, D-Gary, and Gerry Scheub, D-Schererville, said it's unclear whether the state will allow the three townships to do their own reassessments.


What the hell do the employees under the assessor's office do all year long?

There isn't much to "assess " if you ask me...one business in downtown who is now out of business (a transmission/car place), told me his business had to pay $15,000 a year in property taxes. He's gone now.

The house across the street which is falling apart - wind blew part of the new roof off, along with the siding, but otherwise is a desirable home, has a price tag of $38,000.00. Cheap? Well, not if you look at the other three vacant ones on the block and the three for sale and vacant down the next block. Pretty soon there won't be a reason to do any reassessments. The town will be vacant at the rate it's going.

I appealed my taxes. If they really think my house is worth that much, give me the cash and I will be out in a week. I cannot get 1/3 of what they say it is worth. One neighbor, who had his house originally for sale last year for $59,000 dropped the price all the way to $14,900. He finally sold it a month ago. His taxes went from $1,400 a year to $4,100 per year !
This area no longer has 1 or 2 houses per block that are empty. Now there are 2-3 houses IN A ROW, per block, that are empty.
The selling prices of properties has just about hit bottom. The old Calumet Theater building was selling for $150,000 two years ago. Now, the marquee says "$40,000 or best offer".

Tiger1 wrote:

I appealed my taxes. If they really think my house is worth that much, give me the cash and I will be out in a week. I cannot get 1/3 of what they say it is worth. One neighbor, who had his house originally for sale last year for $59,000 dropped the price all the way to $14,900. He finally sold it a month ago. His taxes went from $1,400 a year to $4,100 per year !
This area no longer has 1 or 2 houses per block that are empty. Now there are 2-3 houses IN A ROW, per block, that are empty.
The selling prices of properties has just about hit bottom. The old Calumet Theater building was selling for $150,000 two years ago. Now, the marquee says "$40,000 or best offer".

Who is this mysterious "they" that you are talking about? Property taxes for owner occuppied homes in central Hammond range from $600 to $1,000/yr. That averages out to about $800/yr. $800/YR is a steal for property taxes in this area. Since you obviously feel it is excessive, what do you think is a fair amount for property taxes?

Who is this mysterious "they" that you are talking about? Property taxes for owner occupied homes in central Hammond range from $600 to $1,000/yr. That averages out to about $800/yr. $800/YR is a steal for property taxes in this area. Since you obviously feel it is excessive, what do you think is a fair amount for property taxes?

Where are you getting this information from?

I know my neighbors in North Hammond have been well above $1,000 for years now. I don't know anybody who pays $800 without an exemption.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. While granted we do need "some taxes," taxation today has gotten COMPLETELY out of hand. Many of the things some people (liberal Democrats especially) want to have funded by public taxes should really only be done via private charities and contributions. But with this heavy tax burden and what with the Dems seeking to make charatible donations even less tax deductable (like $.35 on the $1 and only if you itemize) is it any wonder why private efforts are cash starved? And if we don't have the money to voluntarily contribute then mandatory contributions would seem to be nothing less than legalized tyranny.

Ideally there should by no Federal personal income tax. Business taxes are quite enough! Personal property taxes should only fund core government services with more optional expenses paid for through a modest sales tax.

But look at large cities today. Taxes left & right on top of taxes and fees & penalties galore. Personally I do not see how it can possibly be legal to tax personal income for 3 levels of government but it's done all the same even in Indiana, except for Lake County (for the moment at least).

Mirage wrote:

Who is this mysterious "they" that you are talking about? Property taxes for owner occupied homes in central Hammond range from $600 to $1,000/yr. That averages out to about $800/yr. $800/YR is a steal for property taxes in this area. Since you obviously feel it is excessive, what do you think is a fair amount for property taxes?

Where are you getting this information from?

I know my neighbors in North Hammond have been well above $1,000 for years now. I don't know anybody who pays $800 without an exemption.

).

That's probably because you've never bothered to actually look at the assessor's site to see how much people really pay. Here is the assessor's site.http://in-lake-assessor.governmaxa.com/propertymax/rover30.asp?sid=B9CA6B4E1CAC4447975B2D8240F7FC23
I would be surprised if you could find any single family homes in central Hammond with a homeowners and mortgage exemption that pay more than a grand a month. I looked on Drackert and found taxes ranging from $350 to $895.

That's probably because you've never bothered to actually look at the assessor's site...

Well as we all know based on Freetime accusing Mc Sr of tax evasion it CAN be wrong.

Put another way, I talk to my neighbors and that's what they tell me.

Mirage wrote:

That's probably because you've never bothered to actually look at the assessor's site...

Well as we all know based on Freetime accusing Mc Sr of tax evasion it CAN be wrong.

Put another way, I talk to my neighbors and that's what they tell me.

The assessor's site has information about assessed values of homes. In order to access the actual amount of taxes that a property owner pays, that site is linked to the Treasurer's site. That information is the information used to generate the actual tax bills. What you are telling me is you prefer to listen to hearsay from your neighbors than to examine the actual bills that your neighbors receive. As far as Tom McDermott Sr.'s tax bill,you've got your facts wrong. There is no dispute as to the amount of taxes owed. The only issue is why the property hasn't been put up for auction at the Sheriff's sale.

There is no dispute as to the amount of taxes owed. The only issue is why the property hasn't been put up for auction at the Sheriff's sale.

Who woulda ever believed it! You actually agree with (a certain McDermot Jr detractor) on something.

Now this story is becoming curiouser and curiouser.

Mirage wrote:

There is no dispute as to the amount of taxes owed. The only issue is why the property hasn't been put up for auction at the Sheriff's sale.

Who woulda ever believed it! You actually agree with (a certain McDermot Jr detractor) on something.

Now this story is becoming curiouser and curiouser.

Actually, I agree with Freetime on quite a few things with the exception of Mayor McDermott.

sparks wrote:

Mirage wrote:

That's probably because you've never bothered to actually look at the assessor's site...

Well as we all know based on Freetime accusing Mc Sr of tax evasion it CAN be wrong.

Put another way, I talk to my neighbors and that's what they tell me.

The assessor's site has information about assessed values of homes. In order to access the actual amount of taxes that a property owner pays, that site is linked to the Treasurer's site. That information is the information used to generate the actual tax bills. What you are telling me is you prefer to listen to hearsay from your neighbors than to examine the actual bills that your neighbors receive. As far as Tom McDermott Sr.'s tax bill,you've got your facts wrong. There is no dispute as to the amount of taxes owed. The only issue is why the property hasn't been put up for auction at the Sheriff's sale.

Ya know, Mirage, my kid was paying $3,000.00 on a house he bought by Cabrinie-Red for $26,000. He has protested, and my understanding is the norm is $1.000 tax on a $100,000 dollar home. It was a hole in the wall. You walked in, the small living room was the bedroom He added three bedrooms, made the living room large, the master bedroom has a bathroom, renovated the kitchen, made a utility room in the kitchen, and I laughed out loud that the taxes were higher than the McDermott Sr's. house.

It's ok. I know how to appeal. Last time we buy in Hammond. Not really...I am renting my house out, and going out and buying another outside of Hammond, to beat the cops and corruption.

So much for improving Hammond. And excuse me, he added two bathrooms - one is in a master bedroom. Imagine going from no bedrooms to three and two bathrooms, with a utility room where former renters had to do their wash outside in a shed.

It blends well with the new senior citizen center, but the taxes are outrageous, among boarded up homes. What he thought was a steal, it was. The City of Hammond is stealing from him. Time to move on!

When you try so hard to do the right thing, shitz happens. Either stay, pay or get the hell out. Life is short.

Well, I found out it is the norm to have that high of a bill, since he is not living in it right now....so, gotta eat my words.