Property tax in the valley... (Anchorage, Wasilla: sales, how much, house)

[AQHA]

How much annual property tax might one expect to pay on a home in Wasilla or Palmer ($500k home)?

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by AQHA

How much annual property tax might one expect to pay on a home in Wasilla or Palmer ($500k home)?

A good round number is 14 mils....that's $1400 for every $100k in assessment so $500K would be $7,000 per year.

It would probably be slightly less than that. The base mil rate is 9.9 mils and then there is the fire service area and road service area that are different depending on where you live.

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

A good round number is 14 mils....that's $1400 for every $100k in assessment so $500K would be $7,000 per year.

It would probably be slightly less than that. The base mil rate is 9.9 mils and then there is the fire service area and road service area that are different depending on where you live.

Thanks for the reply, and thanks to those who replied via private message.

WOW! Does that seem high? I know we don't have state income tax but property tax seems incredibly high. Whew! I have a ranch in Montana where I pay $1400 a year total.

[Crossfire600]

Originally Posted by AQHA

Thanks for the reply, and thanks to those who replied via private message.

WOW! Does that seem high? I know we don't have state income tax but property tax seems incredibly high. Whew! I have a ranch in Montana where I pay $1400 a year total.

I was shocked as well.. I am still trying to figure out were they are spending all the money.

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by Crossfire600

I was shocked as well.. I am still trying to figure out were they are spending all the money.

75-80% of the property tax money goes to the schools. The rest goes to the borough for road and fire service areas and for planning on how you can use your property in the future...zoning.

That is why you should pay attention to the borough and school budgets and ask them how they are spending the money. I know a lot of it is wasted, but that happens with any government. The closer the people actually look at the money, the better it will be spent.

Remember, we have no income tax and no sales tax.

Well, a friend made a case to me that we actually do have an income tax but since it is indirect we ignore it. This is the money that comes to the state from the oil royalties. The oil is owned by the people not the government, and if the money were actually distributed to the people and then taxed back to the government we would feel differently about the money that the state is spending. Instead, the state spends the money and distributes a pittance to the people in the form of a pfd.

Also, if you counted the money that the state is spending from the oil royalties as a tax, we would have the highest taxes in the country.

[Alaskapat528]

I have to wonder if this goes through if property taxes will go up again.


Local News : Annexation would double Wasilla’s footprint - Frontiersman (http://frontiersman.com/articles/2009/10/07/local_news/doc4ac56e6c08dd0707757429.txt - broken link)

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

A good round number is 14 mils....that's $1400 for every $100k in assessment so $500K would be $7,000 per year.

It would probably be slightly less than that. The base mil rate is 9.9 mils and then there is the fire service area and road service area that are different depending on where you live.

I wish the Mill Rate was only 14, it hasn't been that low since 2003. It was 15.01 last year, and this year it is 14.89. Even though the Mill Rate dropped slightly from last year, they significantly increased the assessed value of the home so I'm still paying more property tax than last year.

As far as services are concerned, the Mat-Su Borough is a joke. They never plow the road in the winter, or grade it in the summer. The fire protection is dubious at best. Two homes in my sub-division burned to the ground, less than 0.5 miles from a fire department. The fire department was more interested in keeping the fire contained to the property than putting it out. Both homes were a complete loss.

[arctichomesteader]

There's more than one reason to avoid Mat-Su....the taxes are crazy there...for me, the population density is the other...why I went with the Unorganized Borough for my property, no taxes, few people...

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by Glitch

The fire department was more interested in keeping the fire contained to the property than putting it out. Both homes were a complete loss.

Sometimes a complete loss is better than the alternative. If my house has a serious fire I hope the FD takes their time and lets it burn-- but I understand your point.

I support money to the schools but the amount of money people are paying in taxes on their homes is mind boggling. There has to be a limit where the government is forced to work with what they have rather than continuously asking for more.

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

There's more than one reason to avoid Mat-Su....the taxes are crazy there...for me, the population density is the other...

Are the taxes in Anchorage any less? I don't know where one could go to avoid the taxes while staying on the road system.