Senate bill would overhaul property tax system
A “much-needed” overhaul of Georgia’s property tax system was introduced this morning by Sen. Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock). The 47-page bill features more than 40 changes in the current property tax system and would, according to Rogers, grant homeowners more power.
“The collection of taxes should be fair, transparent and easy to understand. Sadly, the property tax in Georgia accomplishes none of these things,” Rogers said. “This legislation attempts to bring fairness to an unfair system.”
The bill, SB 346, would include:
*Year-round property appeals.
*Making sure that every property receive an annual notice of assessment.
*Statewide uniformity of assessment notices and appeal forms.
*Allow counties to accept payment plans for property taxes and discounts for early payments.
*Establish time limits for assessor action in response to appeals.
*Requiring a unanimous vote by Board of Equalization members to increase assessed value.
“Georgians from all over the state created this legislation,” said Rogers, who held several hearings on property tax reform. “We have had hundreds of suggestions for change. The more than 40 changes represented in this bill represent the will of the people and the will to bring needed relief to property owners.”
John O’Callaghan, president of Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnerships, said the bill would provide needed relief to homeowners, especially those in poor neighborhoods.
“State law requires that when we tax you, it should be based on the value of your house,” O’Callaghan said. “For a homeowner in a high foreclosure neighborhood, they are overpaying their property taxes up to $1,600 a year.”
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36 comments Add your comment
mike
February 1st, 2010
1:19 pm
Taxpayers already have 4 months to file their appeals. nothing will get done if they are allowed to appeal year round. This is silly.
Ace
February 1st, 2010
1:22 pm
School taxes on property is wrong. That is the state’s responsibity, not property owners.
Base
February 1st, 2010
1:23 pm
Another joke by Roger and the slime legislature to benefit the developers.
Developer
February 1st, 2010
1:36 pm
Base of knowledge,
Exactly how would it benefit me if I don’t own the home?
mike
February 1st, 2010
1:38 pm
I did some research to see how bad this problem really is. Seems the state performs annual audits of every counties tax values versus sales prices. In 2009 every county in Ga. had tax values below the standards set by the legislature. How many people out there would be stupid enough to sell their property for the tax assessment? Very few, I would bet. This is nothing more than voter pandering.
Bill
February 1st, 2010
1:41 pm
I sure hope they are going to make sure that all taxpayers are treated equally. In Coweta Co some homes are assessed at only about 75% of what the owner paid in 2006-2007, but others are assessed at 100%, or more, of what they paid in the same year. This not fair. All of them are considered qualified sales by the tax assesor. This means they are not foreclosures and are considered arms length transactions. A homeowner can not appeal their taxes based on the low assesment of another property in a different area. This situation needs to be corrected.
Myopic
February 1st, 2010
1:42 pm
I will sale the house today for my appraised value…….and I am not the only one. Talk to people in Clayton County and find out if they would sale in a heartbeat at the appraised value to get out of that mess.
David A Faith
February 1st, 2010
1:43 pm
I think that the home has no one it public school, then they should be exempt from the school taxes. If you have a child in private school who enrolls in public school then you would have to pay an entrance fee and then taxes every year they are in public school.
Dan
February 1st, 2010
1:50 pm
So Mike, which assessor’s office do you work for? Anyone who has tried to appeal their property assessments in Dekalb or Fulton understands that the current system is very unfair to homeowners. Assessors and Commissioners are in place accurately value properties and collect taxes on the correct value. From what I have seen over the past year, it seems that these agencies are more focused now on protecting tax revenue rather than accurate valuations. The average assessed value of a house in southwest Atlanta appears looks to be between $120 – 140k, or about 3 – 4 times what they’re actually selling for. There needs to be greater accountability for these assessors and commissioners.
Kitty
February 1st, 2010
1:53 pm
Dear Mike, you can only appeal for a very limited period of time at the beginning of the year. I purchased property last year in May, and had to pay prop taxes that fall that were clearly 3x’s what the Real value was. I/Tax payors are not able to contest the amount till start of 2010; and tax record still shows prior owner as current owner. Does that sound good to you?
Solution
February 1st, 2010
1:56 pm
I’ve got the solution. Spend less money. No matter how a county appraises property, etc… they will raise the tax rate on all properties until they bring in enough money. The solution is not in fighting the symptom (the tax system/appraisals,etc) the solution is to force counties to spend less money.
jojo
February 1st, 2010
2:07 pm
Perhaps the state could investergate Fulton cty. I am 68 years old, live on a fixed income and I am paying over $2,000 a year in school tax. This has got to end.
Fulton Taxpayer
February 1st, 2010
2:16 pm
I was amazed last year when I read an article in the AJC that stated that Arthur Manning, head tax assessor for Fulton County, admitted that the average that home values dropped in Fulton was an average of 5% and most even dropped more and that his department did not adjust property values to meet that average. Manning stated that it would have done harm to the tax base and services in Fulton County if he would have lowered the value. This answer from Mr. Manning is ridiculous and he should lose his job for stating this. This is the same as fraud to me. Either we should use the actual property percentage values at the millage rate or not, but you don’t cheat the taxpayers in the name of saving your own salary!
Alex
February 1st, 2010
2:19 pm
Chip Rogers is a moron!
STEVEY CATLOCK
February 1st, 2010
2:20 pm
Most people don’t know but the same legislature created the curret laws we have now and the years prior. Oh by the way, the law states who owns the property Jan 1 is responsible for appealling the value that year not the person who bought it on Jan 31 or July 31. Mike is right, every county is audited. Check all the sells in your county. The County can show you where the sales happened and how much. You will be shocked.
mission man
February 1st, 2010
2:39 pm
Mike, my house is assessed at more than double what I paid for it, so give me a call from whatever tax assessor’s office you work for, and I’ll be happy to sell it to you for the assessed amount.
Take a look at the reasearch the AJC did for the metro area, what these counties are doing is spineless. Too afraid of passing a tax increase, they lie about the value of the homes.
Rich
February 1st, 2010
2:39 pm
We all benefit from good schools, it lowers crime.
Rich
February 1st, 2010
2:48 pm
No, I have no children in the public schools
Karl Marx
February 1st, 2010
2:49 pm
You can sure tell the posters who work for local government and want to keep an absolutely unfair and regressive tax system. They are just afraid of losing their jobs. Welcome to the REAL world.
Ace
February 1st, 2010
2:59 pm
Nothing wrong with a good school, check the State constitution on who’s supposed to pay for it.
Clarence
February 1st, 2010
3:02 pm
I appealed my assessment in fulton county about 5 years ago. I was able to pull comps from my entire neighborhood from fulton’s website, so the research was easy. They lowered it to a fair level without a hearing. The original assessment was bogus, but I found the process of appeal to be easy and fair…
Rob Vinson
February 1st, 2010
3:02 pm
This won’t pass. They have tried and failed too many times in the past. The problem is that there are 159 counties in GA with their own assessors offices and that means its up to their staffs and appraisers to try and get the values correct. There won’t be any statewide way of doing things. Heck, they can’t even decide on a deadline for a return to be filed which initites the appeal proces in a non re-appraisal year. Some counties are March 1 and some are April 1. Also, the GA Department of Revenue goes to each county and checks the sales to assessment ratios annually and by law they are supposed to be between 95% and 105% of the sales price. Fulton County and other ones around the metro area are routinely fined each year because it’s never correct. It is ridiculous how difficult it is to appeal an assessment in this state. If they would just issue a notice to each property owner / parcel number every year, it would help make things more uniform. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Base
February 1st, 2010
3:07 pm
Developer: Read the bill its about real property not just homes.Chip and the developers he represents own lots of real property.
DK
February 1st, 2010
3:09 pm
Dan,
Why do you think Mike works for an assessor’s office? I don’t have any idea who Mike is, but I work for an assessor’s office. Do you really think those of us working for an assessors’ office care if your property goes up or down in value? I’ve never been paid a dime more for raising a property’s value, and I’ve never gotten a pay cut for lowering a property’s value. My job is to appraise property at its fair market value, as specified by Georgia Law.
One of the biggest reasons that the system has flaws now is because too many legislators, like Mr. Rogers, seem to share your apparent belief that those of us who work in the industry don’t want to see reform and that we just want to raise everybody’s taxes. This is stupid and short-sided. I’ve worked in this business for over 20 years and have advocated some of the changes being proposed this year.
As for what Mike said, here is a link to the State Audit website: https://www.audits.state.ga.us/srd/index.html
Check it out and see what county(ies) is/are over-appraising property.
Lastly keep this in mind. No one should pay more than the system specifies is their “fair share” and passing laws that ensure this happens is a good thing, but making the system complex and hard to manage cost the public more in taxes. Mailing correspondence cost money (more that most realize). Defending appeals costs money. When others cheat the system it cost money. Taxpayers are the ones that must pay this money and creating such an environment is the quickest and surest way to make your tax bill increase.
Mike S.
February 1st, 2010
3:11 pm
My current Tax Assessment is 345000.00. My current market assesment is 295000.00. The real world is not “voter pandering”. In fact as an active voter I am watching what my local representatives are doing to tighten their budgets and live within the current market conditions. You cannot build new schools and then never open them because they are excess as in Fayette County. Everytime I turn around I see County trucks running up and down the highway. Every tax payer needs to be diligent in seeing where our taxes are being spent.
Rob Vinson
February 1st, 2010
3:12 pm
This won’t be fixed. They have tried to fix it in the past and it hasn’t worked. The problem is the duplicity with 159 counties in GA and 159 Assessor’s offices etc. Heck, they can’t even agree on what deadline to use to file returns which one has to do to initiate the appeals process in a non re-appraisal year. I had written a long synopsis out, but it didn’t post for some reason???
Dave
February 1st, 2010
3:15 pm
Why not raise the State Sales Tax from 4% to 10% or so and eliminate all property tax? Everyone would pay their “fair share” then if there is such a thing as “fair share”.
Karl Marx
February 1st, 2010
3:53 pm
Dave,
Using sales tax to replace collecting property tax was proposed and local governments and school boards came out screaming against it. It was called the GREAT plan. Local governments and school boards said property tax was a stable source of revenue, Yea Right….Their not saying that now are they but they don’t want the assessments to change because they might have to ask the voters to increase millage rates. That hasn’t work too well in Gwinnett County. I’m not voting for any incumbent’s at the local level that don’t support killing the property tax. We need to institute our own term limits and kick them all out.
DK
February 1st, 2010
3:53 pm
Karl Marx,
Please explain how an accumulated wealth tax (which is what property tax is) is regressive and what more progressive system would you replace it with? BTW, if the property tax system went away in Georgia, I’d have a job of equal pay before I drew my last check from the county. I’d have to do some traveling, but I’m certainly not afraid of losing my job.
Rob,
It’s up to the state to determine when the deadlines are set. Certain larger counties can elect whether of not they will bill in two installments or in one installment and this affects which deadline they are subject to, but the state decides what the deadlines are going to be, not the counties.
Mr. Conservative?
February 1st, 2010
3:58 pm
If you purchased your home and you feel it’s worth less than the county has it valued file your return by April 1. If you need more laws and the government to intervene on your behalf because you can’t file a simple document by a certain date, are you really a conservative Mr. Rogers?
DK
February 1st, 2010
4:02 pm
Karl Marx,
Sales tax is the most regressive tax system in use in the U.S. today. Is this your answer to replace property taxes? You obviously are either a rich person that wants everybody else to pay their taxes for you, or someone who’s been duped by some rich person that wants everybody else to pay their taxes for them. Legislators listening to complaints from the uninformed, like you, is one of the main reasons our system is flawed today.
The Bystander
February 1st, 2010
4:11 pm
Just because the metro area is a cluster, don’t make the rest of the state suffer with more laws and regulations.
By Example
February 1st, 2010
5:47 pm
Show of hands by everyone complaining their home value is too high that have actually made a tax return on their home or appealed the Tax Assessment. The fact is, even if change takes place you will still need to get off your tails an file an appeal if you feel it isn’t fair. Yes some homes are over valued and many are under valued. Do you actually think the county (or state) is going to knock on your door and ask you if you want to question your value. And complaining about it to the paper, your Legislator, or the tax collection office is wasting time. And I’m sure many Assessor’s in the state will tell you that most of the appeals are not legit, but if you know you have a home with comp sales less than the county value, then you should appeal. Most do not understand the property tax because they choose not to and no law will simplify what people do not want to know.
As to school taxes. Whether you have a child in school or not your property values are directly linked to the quality of public schools. Cut their funds and the schools perform worse than they do now and your property value will drop. Just ask your neighbors in Clayton County. In fact instead of complaining of school taxes, even if you do not have a child in school try mentoring one.
I’m sorry but it drives me crazy for so many lazy voters to sit back and hope their magical Law maker can make everything fall into their laps. This is why so many in Washington have taking the approach that Americans are too stupid to know what is best for them and Americans really want them to force stupid reform down their throats. Let’s try one year without any laws or changes being passed.
Santa
February 2nd, 2010
11:00 am
I purchased a house last year and I am more than willing to pay my fair share. However, the assessment is for more than $200k over my purchase price. Since I bought after Jan. 1, I must wait a year to appeal.
One item I like in the bill is that the county cannot defacto remove my ability to appeal. If you want to appeal you must receive an annual notice of assessment. However, contrary to the term, they are not sent out annually. Don’t get one, the county has effectively blocked your appeal through their inaction.
As for supporting the schools, I am all for it. It is much cheaper than filling the prisons with uneducated people that can’t support themselves or their families. What I don’t appreciate are the screams for local control followed by equalization grants because locals won’t pay. Why is Cobb subsidizing Gwinnett? What does Warren County Schools, a state charter system that has just lost their accreditation, pull money from the state for 70% of their budget?
There is a lot messed up in this state, and fixing the property tax assessment and appeal process, the collection process, etc. is just the tip of the iceberg.
96SC
February 2nd, 2010
5:00 pm
All funds allocated for schools should be eliminated from propety taxes immediately. The schools should be funded by a user pay only method. Surely monetary waste, disciplinary problems, academic failure will disappear with parents input and financial support. Counties should eliminate discriminatory ageand income exemptions for certain citizens and base property taxes solely on the current market’s property value
Jose
July 10th, 2010
8:49 am
There should be a ban on any landscaping plant that is for eye appeal or erosion control only. Plants should produce fruit, nuts, hops, etc. that can help feed the thousands of Georgians.
Property taxes have made it such that we no longer own our property. Instead, after we pay off the mortgage company we end up paying rent to the government.