The Tax Man Cometh...

[jonr]

Originally Posted by SAMIAM

As a life long conservative.....I've now changed my tune. We need a sales tax........We have lost 3 retired homeowners on my road alone who could not afford the huge increases on waterfront property.Please keep in mind,these are not wealthy people,just ordinary folks that happened to buy on the lake many years ago.Oh,I know,their property has grown in value,but what good is that to them? They don't want to sell,just live their remaining years in the home the've lived in all of their lives.

What good is it to them? Well there are a number of ways to monitize the increase in your homes value. There are convential mortgages, home equity lines, and reverse mortgages (which require no payments during your lifetime).

If values increase then you have la lot of equity to tap to pay the increased tax. If your house increases by $1000 and you only need to monitize $10 to $20 to pay the taxes (depending upon the town).

But the assessments are only one issue. If everyone's assesment doubles and spending is the same then your taxes don't change. If some properties increase more or less than others that will shift the tax burden to the properties that increase more. If spending increases 20% then without additional revenue agregrate taxes need to increase 20%.

[fatlazyless]

Tomorrow June 22 2006, the State of NH represented by the NH Attorney General is scheduled to have its' appeal concerning the state wide local school property tax heard by the NH Supreme Court. Earlier this year in a lawsuit involving the Town of Londonderry and some other towns, a superior court agreed that the state wide local school property tax was unconstitutional. The State of NH's appeal of that decision starts tomorrow to be heard by the five Supreme Court justices.

Here's my question. Now, the Meredith property tax which includes a local municipal, local school and county tax is due on Monday July 3. What happens if I pay the local school tax on July 3 and then say three weeks later, this tax is decided to be unconstitional? Another question: what happens if I do not pay the local school tax and it is say three weeks later decided to be unconstitutional?
In my opinion, it seems to me that a past due local school tax that has been declared unconstitutional is no longer owed to the town. However, the interest on the amount not paid is due because the tax was legal at the time it was due. An unconstitutinal decision by the Supremes would would make collection unenforcable since it's an illegal tax even though it was legal at the time it was due.

How's that sound?

[phoenix]

i think you will need to pay and get a refund. I think from what i hear any chnage will be in the future and not retro so won't impact this year anyway