The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Noitices arrived today.  I think the increase in the "Fair Cash Market Value" for my home is ABSURD.  Anyone else care to speak up?

Fortunately, with the homestead exemption, increases in taxable value are limited to 3%/year.  Otherwise we would be the next California.  I would have to sell the house where i have lived for 40+ years to live in a hovel.  Grrrr!

Remember, an increase in the value of your home increases your taxes.  Maybe not so bad if you are young and still working. Not so wonderful if one is retired and not living in poverty.  But still, 3%/year adds up.

Saw a bumper sticker one time.  Gotta get some made...

BOHICA!


Bend Over Here It Comes Again!


Texas is MUCH worse!   Tennessee is also much worse!

Our homes value almost doubled. Egads. Glad its gone up, but that is surprising.

My house went up almost 50%

I've known a few folks that have lived in Texas.  Tax structure is different there.  OK typically compares taxes in other states without the total package.  "Our property tax is less than....., our sales tax is less than....  blah blah blah.  Oklahoma has lower rates than many cherry picked states but we HAVE THEM ALL.

My place is certainly worth more than what my parents paid for it in 1971 but a 53% increase from 2022 to 2023 is ABSURD. Acceptable to keep up with inflation but doing the California thing is just plain wrong. A lot of people in my neighborhood have lived here for decades.  My place still has formica counter tops, wood paneling walls in the living room, olive green tile in the bathrooms, a concrete slab floor without wood overlay....  It suits me fine.  The wall oven is 24" wide and a remake to use a modern 30" wide oven would take a complete kitchen make-over.  A few sales to people trying to avoid capital gains taxes should not influence the FCMV of our houses.

The Assessor's no look model is the lazy way out. Yaezel was terrible but Wright is no better.

I admit that I don't want the Assessor examining the interior of my house every year but there needs to be a better way somehow.

Think it's really worth that much?  COVID had a lot of folks from California looking for someplace else.  They were/are willing to pay California prices for a place in Oklahoma to avoid Capital Gains Taxes. Are we going to have a housing price CRASH here in Oklahoma in a year or so?  Think the assessed value of your home will reflect that?  I doubt it.

I don't plan to sell before I pass-on so the "increased value" of this place doesn't help me other than the insurance company recognizing that replacement value is more than my parents paid for the place in 1971.

i really hope that this thread doesn't bring the Assessor's Gestapo down on us.

 >:(

Think you own your home? 

Try not paying your taxes for a few years.

I would estimate it's worth more than the what the assessor says. Houses in my subdivision in Jenks don't last two days on the market. There are zero houses available today. Nor any near me in other subdivisions. New houses the size of mine near me in Jenks go for 50% more than what my new valuation is. It's crazy and has not stopped with the increase in rates.

Our home went up about 30% but it only increased our taxes $50 for the year. I was thinking about fighting it since that's pretty easy to do especially since our house needs work (and is getting worked on constantly), but - eh - I had other things to do worth more than $50. Houses in our neighborhood still sell for almost twice what the assessment has them at, so it could've been worse. Just glad they don't do this with commercial properties, or at least they haven't (maybe a lack of comparables?)

I think the newest houses near me were built in the 90s.

New with all the bells and whistles, new water heater, new HVAC, wired for home internet/entertainment ....  new houses probably should be more expensive than older houses.

Some people have too much money.  I'm not one of them.

We bought our house while it was under construction in 2001.  There are always new subdivisions around us, though now the land is running out.

True!

Only have 3 real comparisons and each the total tax bill in TX was about 2.5 times here.  Property tax for them getting similar houses there was almost 4 times.  Ouch!  But then I have a relative in Seattle area - on an island - who literally was taxed out of the house they built by hand in 1980-1983.  Projected taxes for them at retirement (about 5 years ago, projecting 9 years ahead) would have been right at $2,200 a month!  They sold and moved into the city.

Maybe within the city limits of Jenks but there is plenty of land to the south to put 3000 or so houses per square mile with nothing to support them.

I don't want to live "in the city" but I also don't want to live 10 ft from my neighbors and have to drive 15 miles to a grocery store.

Fortunately we have a 3% annual increase limit (with homestead exemption) but over the next 20 or so years I hope to live, that will still be a burden.

I think no one should be taxed out of their place to live, regardless of income.

Probably for another thread but....

What is a reasonable tax?  We need to support things like police, fire departments, infrastructure, public education....  We don't need to support exorbitant salaries for public servants. Another subject for a different thread.

Property tax just means you are renting you property from the government.  Maybe a huge deduction for basic living.  >:(

Income tax: probably OK with a generous deduction for cost of living, regardless of income.

Sales/Value added tax: Probably OK if not for necessities like food, medicine, clothing.

Just asking..

"We need to support things like police, fire departments, infrastructure, public education...."

I agree with that.  Right up to the point where it is being warped and twisted by right wing extremism to destroy public education.  Privatize police and fire.  Ignore infrastructure.  Today we are seeing the plan and path that too much long term power by Republicans brings us.

As for exorbitant salaries for public servants - we don't do that.  And certainly not compared to what IS exorbitant in Corporate America.  What we DO support is exorbitant salaries for the C-suite of too many corporations!  The massive tax breaks they get are literally paid for on the backs of the working people in this country - and that includes people up to somewhere in the 96-98% range!   You have to be one of the top 2% or so to get REAL tax breaks!   Over and above the extra 13% break from Social Security, is the little shell game of counting W-2 salary differently than bonus, stock options, etc.

Not just a reply to RA - for general consumption....


When you see the C-suite makes $800,000 a year salary, then bonus, options of $10 Million...or 30 or 40 million....   All that means is that they are paying taxes on a pittance.  And the big money comes from the other $9.2 Million which is taxed as long term capital gains with a maximum 15% (or 20 in some cases) tax.  THAT is why the calls for paying their fair share!   If they make $800 k or $100 Million, the tax should be the tax, without artificial paybacks just because they have the power to write the tax laws for themselves.


Property tax always has been and always will be just another form of serfdom - paying tribute to the lord of the manor.  Don't ever see it changing.

And that is where so many "libertarians" are just so totally ignorant of history and law when they blather on about "freedom" and "liberty" and all the other pablum they spew!  Ain't no such thing as any of that.  As an entity, the US started out as a group that took by force what was the property at that time of King George.  Who had taken by force, extortion, bribery, and fraud, what "belonged" to a wide variety of other groups.  (It only belongs to you if you can keep it by force.)

So instead of paying about 1.5% tribute to George, whose previous governments had financed, invested in, and worked to build a 'company' here, we now get to pay 40% to our local rulers.  By the way, George's levies on the colonies were extremely casual - amounting to income to the crown that was MUCH less than the cost of the operation, by way of defense, supply, etc.  We were getting an incredible bargain, and about half of us were too stupid to realize what a great deal it was!  The majority wanted to keep it like it was, cause they knew a good thing when they saw it!   Like today, the richest were unappreciative and greedy and wanted more, so that's why they started up all that stuff with England.  

Property tax is double, triple, quadruple, and more, taxation!   Tax on the income used to pay for it.  Tax on every single board, nail, bit of concrete, stick or piece of anything and everything that goes into the house (simplifying 'property' to housing.)  


But hey, how else are we gonna get those extra $Trillions a year to fight the unjustified wars to satisfy our Imperialistic Voyeurism??
Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax,...  And that list doesn't even start to cover the total different taxes we have.