Land's assessed valuation increase

[Carey]

Linda, the resident home owner property tax is just over 1/2 the rate on non-resident:

Tax Rate Per $1,000 Net
Taxable Building / Taxable Land
PROPERTY CLASS

1 Improved Residential $9.10 / $9.10
2 Apartment $9.85 / $9.85
3 Commercial $9.85 / $9.85
4 Industrial $9.85 / $9.85
5 Agriculture $9.85 / $9.85
6 Conservation $9.85 / $9.85
7 Hotel/Resort $9.85 / $9.85
8 Unimproved Residential $9.85 / $9.85
9 Homeowner $5.55 / $5.55

There is also a homeowners property tax exemption for your primary residence that takes $$ (basis takes $40k) off of the assessed valuation. The homeowners exemption also is stages, to give a larger break to elderly & disabled. Check out the county tax web at: http://www.hawaiipropertytax.com/
Aloha, Carey

[radioguy]

If you don't know about California's proposition 13, the law that was passed years ago, everyone in Hawaii had better learn. My parent's house value in California went from $28,500.00 to $1,000,000.00 in 30 years,
and without a law that limits the reassessment of property tax, if you live on a fixed income, retired or whatever, sooner or later, you may lose your house. It's just not in Cailfornia or Hawaii, a woman in Idaho, living on her very basic ranch for 30 years, just got a tax bill for $30,000.00 (which is about what she makes a year) because luxury houses were built near by, and the county said her house was the same.
It took a firestorm to get prop 13 passed in California, and every year, the state government trys to undo it. I'm not sure about property tax laws in Hawaii, but this may be on of the most important issues to unite voters, before your tax bill forces you out of your house. In my opinon, this is more important than everyone screaming about wider roads or more services, like a new fire station. (O.K., I feel better now)

Edited by - radioguy on 03/20/2006 01:00:06

[David D]

We don’t live on the Big Island yet (I don’t like using “BI”, kind of like calling San Francisco “SF” or Frisco. I know, I know, even Deborah thinks I’m anal!). The property we have is raw ag land, 8.288 acres to be precise. I did some checking on the County property tax web site. There was no tax difference between resident and non-resident for ag land. Everyone in our area has a tax bill equivalent to $182.31 per acre (to the 1/1000th of an acre). I didn’t have enough info to make comparisons on residential housing for our area. There are programs to help with residential property tax, but I don’t think there are any programs for ag land. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong.)
I know this is just number crunching and Deborah & I can afford to pay the bill, it just bugs the heck out of me (I’d like to use stronger words!) that the County can raise the tax rate on Deborah & me by 84% in ONE year! Over a two year period the increase is 167%! This is not reasonable. It’s more like a racket: Don’t pay? Then loose what your land. Period!
I am going to contact the Mayor’s Office:
http://www.hawaii-county.com/email.htm
And the Hawaii County Council:
http://www.hawaii-county.com/council/con...ouncil.htm

I suggest all property owners, resident & non-resident a like, contact these ELECTED County officials. If we don’t tell them “Enough!” they are going to continue to raise taxes at obscene and glutton-ness rates.

David D

[Carey]

David D, I find it really interesting that the county has the same tax base ($9.85/$1k) for ag and conservation land that it has for industrial/commercial and hotel (granted the assessed valuation will be different... hopefully!). If the tax base is on the services needed, shouldn't the high service users pay more? (think of the road, water, sanitation & emergency response infrastructure the industrial side needs compared to agriculture, and esp. conservation lands!)
Aloha, Carey

[mella l]

Be forewarned this is one of my pet peeves and I will rant. Like David I'd like to use stronger descriptives but will refrain as a sensible person should! LOL

I remember Prop 13 in California. Some of my neighbors were retired after spending 35 to 50 years working raising a family, keeping a home and supporting the tax base. When they started loosing their homes because they could no longer afford the property taxes on their home, it was truly heart breaking. To be a productive member of society raise a family and then to loose your house because you were too old to work any longer, that was just unacceptable to me. They helped build this country and now were being shoved out like yesterdays garbage.

The one error that California made in my opinion is that they didn't just protect residential properties, all Properties were included, and the initiative forgot (?) to exclude businesses. For all the griping business does regarding taxes, they too benefited from Prop 103!! With the likes of Chevron et al making obscene profits these past few years, you don't hear how thankful they are for Prop 13! No they want to keep that one under the radar.

Hey I worked for a large corp. my entire career in various capacities. Believe me, they have legislative tax credits on the books, in the nooks and crannies, to last well into, I use to say the next century but really well into 2015.

Sorry all, I really am a reasonable person, but have more heart that head to reason this stuff out. Pardon me please. Mella L

mella l

PS thanks David for the links I will settle down and write my concerns and e-mail them to the mayor and others including the Governor in a few DAYS!

Edited by - mella l on 03/20/2006 10:43:55

Edited by - mella l on 03/20/2006 12:50:18

[John S. Rabi]

Even though the percentage increases are huge, keep in mind the COH has been way behind with the assessments. I received the new assessments for all 11 of my properties and 9 are still assessed below the market value. (One is assessed at market value and one is assessed over the market value.)

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,PB,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
75-5870 Walua Road, Suite 101
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
(808)327-3185

Edited by - John S. Rabi on 03/20/2006 16:29:46

[Carey]

John, You are right, we just got our bill, and the assessed value is 60% of what we paid for it in Nov. 05, and our house was one of the least expensive that we had seen listed in Keaau! The building only went up 6% over last year, the land went up 63%, total taxes went up 27%. But, we have the homeowers exemption, so the final is less than the mainland owner had last year, so it is less than we budgeted. For this year, lucky us....but we will need to budget for an ever increasing tax. We also will always try to remember that it is still way less than the taxes in the Chicagoland area, where the total school burden is on the property owners. Plus, we are in Hawaii, and can wake up to glorious morning as today, with warm blue skies, Mauna Kea covered in snow (so we can look, but not shovel) and 7.2 inches of rain in our rainguage, from the last 24 hours! Paradise!
Aloha, Carey

[John S. Rabi]

Carey, you can have the Homeowner Exemption (based on your age) and the Non-Speculative Dedication further lowering your tax bill. If you need explaination on either of them fee free to e-mail me privately.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,PB,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
75-5870 Walua Road, Suite 101
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
(808)327-3185

[HADave]

Whats happened with Bills 174/175 (draft2)

Here are some articles to speculate over regarding this heated issue.....

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/articl...In12a.html doesn't work but Google "rising property values on the big island of hawaii" look for "Big Island May get Tax Relief" the link gets you to the article

www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?091e304b-bf45-4c98-83b5-6ab18a0eb522

http://starbulletin.com/2006/03/04/news/story08.html


HADave







Edited by - HADave on 03/21/2006 10:00:43

[Carey]

John, I checked & we do have both (I think thanks to your heads up last fall). I also meant to type that our overall ASSESSMENT increased 27%, NOT the taxes (which will be less, due to the exemptions that the previous owner could not get). I guess the excess sunlight got to my brain while I was typing yesterday! Oh, there are deadlines (I think Dec. & June) for filing your homeowner exemptions, so it is best to file ASAP, to make sure you get it.
Aloha, Carey