04-06-2010, 05:06 AM
Janet....your exactly right. The assessed values are going down, but the tax percentages are going up. Just a side note......your local assessor is supposed arrive at valuations the same way an appraiser would ......but welcome to Hawaii county. That's why they only allow a very short period of time to contest ( like a week) the assessment. If you want a real laugh, look at the property tax structure now and note the substantial increases put into law the last couple of years. If values do go up, the amount of tax will be substantially higher than pre- bubble. Now how will the people in Honolulu get more revenue to fight an ever increasing deficit. Grab your wallets. It's either GE tax or property tax.