kansas taxes wtf

[KevK]

Originally Posted by jackrackham

I am looking at relocating to wichita augusta or eldorado.
The home prices seem to be reasonable, but the taxes are outragous, 2 thousand is not out of line for a 136 thousand dollar home and then it is nothing to add another 2k for specials, and then add a couple hundred for association dues. wtf, that is out ragous, I asked several people who are realtors and they could give me no answer as to what you get for the sky high taxes, I was just told that I am not the only one who is bitching about it.
I have looked in arkansas near little rock a big city like wichita, and the taxes there are high when you say 1thousand a year. and then you get a 350 home stead reduction. I can see nothing kansas has to offer for the $ and maybe this is the reason, there is no tourisim $ for kansas, it is fly over country at best. so with out the extra $ comming in they need to burden the people more. I dont know but the tax base of unreasonable. Any one have any ideas as to why the rediculous taxes?

That is because they don't want any "evil" gambling there!

[KevK]

Originally Posted by kmflan

Wow!! That is nuts! Well, it is not that way in Overland Park. In older ares of Overland Park- around 95th st ,for example- you can get approx an 1800 sq ft house for around 175K with taxes being about 1500-1700 per year.

I live in Cobb County Georgia. My house is appraised at 167 K and my taxes are $654 a year!

[cp1969]

Originally Posted by KevK

I live in Cobb County Georgia. My house is appraised at 167 K and my taxes are $654 a year!

That's more like it. Kansas has gone tax-happy in my lifetime.

At one point, it cost over $600 per year for license for a relatively new car. That's when I started registering all my cars at my Illinois address. Illinois charged $50 per year, didn't matter if it was a Yugo or Rolls Royce. Kansas has since returned to a semblance of sanity regarding auto personal property taxes, but it has just been transferred over to real estate.

Why not curb spending, you say? OUT OF THE QUESTION. Increased spending will increase, year after year after year............

[xpnctoc]

Here we go again... Similar comments have been made on other threads, and so I'll respond the same way as well... OF COURSE some one from Texas is going to have a "wtf" moment when they realize that most other states in the union have TAXES! While they may be suffering sticker shock at Kansas taxes, they ought to look at the larger picture.

I lived in Buffalo, NY the first 30 years of my life. Now I live in Kansas. I'm looking at a 1200sq.ft. house outside of Kansas City for $140k, with $1900 in taxes. No doubt the original poster from Texas is having a heart attack just reading that. BUT, a comparable house, going for $120k in Buffalo, NY breaks the owner's back with $5000+ in property taxes What are so-called "Buffalonians" getting for their money? I can't speak for Witchita, but I'd say Johnson county strikes a darn good balance between taxes and what you get in return. As someone else pointed out, you can get lower taxes in places like Arkansas, but you're going to pay for it in other ways.

It's all relative. You may suffer from sticker shock going from Texas to Kansas, but Kansas isn't bad in the big picture.

[briansgi]

Originally Posted by culater88

I was looking for a house in SW Shawnee in Topeka, the price $480,000, annual property tax = $8,160 and $2,000 special tax. Don't forget the annual tax assessment for your car, RV and boat too.

WOW, just as a comparison, my home on Grand Lake in NE Oklahoma is currently appraised at $465K per county tax assessor and my property taxes are $2100 with no "special taxes". I grew up in Kansas and moved to Oklahoma in 1979 but my in-laws are still there. They are constantly complaining about their property taxes and the outrageous taxes they pay each year to renew their vehicle tags. Here in Oklahoma the maximum you pay each year to renew your tag is $93/year.

[TinaMcG]

[quote=Mathguy;1223631]Kansas property taxes are lower than most places I've lived. They are certainly lower than either IL or WI.

That's true. In the NW suburbs of Chicago, we paid $6600 annual property taxes for a 40-year old house on a half acre. Here in south Johnson County, we have three acres and a three year old house and pay about $7600. I think a lot of that is on the acreage, which I'm now thinking wasn't such a great idea.

[KevK]

Taxes might be a bit high but the cost to buy property in Wichita is very cheap. So in the end you will pay about the same.

[Busch Boy]

Property taxes in the $2,000's is nothing! I'm from New Jersey and it is very common for a small cape cod or ranch to pay $9,000 in taxes. Homes in good neighborhoods might pay in the $15,000-$25,000 range. A home in a decent neighborhood with taxes at around $6,000 is a steal for most of us, LOL.

The problem is serious, however. It's driving many people out of our state.

[Busch Boy]

Originally Posted by runruddyrabbit

Apples and oranges my friend. not even close to being the same. The wages in these places are very differant, and also the home prices are very differant.
Most of the taxes in places like Wichita are from specials, these are taxes that have a sun down and are for the roads and water lines brought in to make new sub divisions.
Taxes are a bit higher in kansas than places like arkansas or missouri. But wages are higher also so relitivity plays a bit here.
A job that pays 10 an hour in Missouri pays more like 15 in Wichita.
It is not like grandma saying she paid 5000 for her first home, true but adjusted for inflation she paid 120k so not much differance. Homes do not apperciate they adjust for inflation.
Grandpa was making 30$ a week and happy to get it also.
People need to start taking econ. 101.

I know that wages in New Jersey are way higher than Kansas. The median household income in NJ is $66,752, but this means nothing because we pay the highest property taxes and auto insurance rates in the country (among other things). Don't you think something is a little off with our property taxes, regardless of how much the median household income is? It makes it even harder for senior citizens because many of them have no mortgage and then their properties are reassessed and their taxes go flying all of a sudden. It's a serious problem and it's driving many New Jerseyians away. North Carolina seems to be the NJ transplant hot spot (along with Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee to a lesser extent). Many of them don't take into account the wage factor as you mentioned and then they are shocked. Personally I wouldn't move like that unless I was sure I had a secure job. But to each his own.

The point I was trying to make is that other people always have it worse. I wasn't trying to get into a technical economics battle.

By the way, I did take econ 101 and got a B+ in it. I hated that class to death!

[drjones96]

Just coming from Fort Worth to Derby myself.

In Fort Worth we had a ~$136k house. The assessed value was ~$125K (i think) and our yearly property taxes were $3200.

We're moving to Derby and our house will cost significantly more and the property taxes + Specials will be roughly the same.