Appeals to the Tax Board of Review

[Bob Orts]

You should see the dirty looks I get on the mainland when people ask me about my property tax. I tell them my property tax is $8,000 a year. People flip and have a sh*t fit because they are paying over $20,000 on the same value property. They get mad and are ready to storm down to the Assessor to find out why I pay so little. Of course the bill from the Tax Assessor is $25,000 but only $8,000 is actual property tax. The remainder is assessments and fees the Tax Assessor collects on behalf of other government entities for things like bonds, debt repayment, special assessments for this and that, all approved by voters. So, when talking about mainland property taxes, talk about the property tax, not the total of the bill you received based on some voter approved bond or assessment which you could also could have said NO too. If you agree to pay the extra money, don’t claim its property tax when its not. Your bill is just the way to collect all the extras. I heard in CA the real actual property tax is labeled as property tax levy; everything else is not property tax.