Am I reading this right??

[JerryCarr]

Property tax comparisons ARE confusing, Mella. There are homeowner exemptions, restrictions on annual assessment increases, senior exemptions, and non-speculative declarations at play on the Big Island that may vary or not be present at all in other counties of Hawaii. (Those are just the ones I remember offhand. There may be more.) The tax rate, while important, is just one piece of a much bigger picture.

Cheers,
Jerry

[mella l]

Thanks Jerry. Yes those exemptions do not apply unless you are living on island.

mella l

[Kelena]

All I know is that my Hawaii Island taxes are MUCH, MUCH higher than my taxes on my California home. They went up twice just since I bought it.

[tada]

If you talking about property tax maybe can complain to your realtor or some enterprising realtor can enlighten??

Other people want to make friends- I just want to make money.
James Cramer

[ric]

Property taxes in Hawaii County are about 30% of what we paid on the mainland. Pretty good deal overall, but that can change in a hurry. Even though there are no services here, many municipalities on the mainland are now separating services and adding them back in as "fees" to keep the tax levy down. Of course they are still a tax, since the fees are not based on use of the services (storm sewer fee, snow removal fee, they even tried to separate a fee out for street lighting).