Which States give best Property Tax breaks to over 65? (pensions, social security, years)

[TootsieWootsie]

Many States seem to give some property tax breaks to those over 65, but which States give the best deals to the geezers (I, being one of them)?
Louisiana seems to value the real estate at 10% assessment during tax time, but maybe I am misunderstanding their laws.
Regardless, Alabama, Maine, Texas and others give breaks to over 65. Which State gives the BEST deal then???

[forest beekeeper]

Around here the going rate for property tax is about $1 per acre. If you are over 65 you can get a break in that, an exemption on the assessed value of your property.

I have many years to go before I get to 65, so I will be happy for now paying $47 a year for our home on 42 acres of riverfrontage.

good luck

[Toria]

Taxes by State

gives a good overview of tax situations in each state...

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Toria

Taxes by State

gives a good overview of tax situations in each state...

I have seen that posted many time repeatedly. Unfortunately there are many exemptions and specifics that it does not go into.

If you want to compare two states you really have to go to that state's website and read through the details of their property taxes and don't forget all of their tax break programs.

Using my current state as an example, the state website shows property taxes by county at one web-page. But it does not show the property taxes of each city, for each city's property taxes you have to chase down each township individually. Then back to the state website and under completely different headings can be found each of the programs where you can lock your property into a pre-set value assessment.

These locked-in assessment values where put there long ago before inflation had so much effect on the market value of land and homes. So it is very important in a current tax bill to be able to get your home into one of these programs.

We choose Maine to retire to; and bought property and moved here and only later did I begin to really learn about these programs. I was very fortunate in that our property is in one of these programs already, so we have a very low assessment. But anyone from 'away' would not have a clue to even ask about these programs, until after they had moved here and settled in.

The 'retirementliving' website does offer a great service, Keep in mind that what it shows is an 'overview' only. If you go purely by it, you are missing the bigger picture, and the areas where taxes can truly be set at very low levels with no possibility of our assessments going up.

[Tesaje]

Yes. I agree. I was disappointed in that site. My first clue was that it failed to accurately tally the taxes where I live now. So that makes me wonder what is missing in places I don't know about.

I still think the better way to go about it is to decide what place you will like living in best and then figure out how to get the best and most affordable deal in that area.

[Toria]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

The 'retirementliving' website does offer a great service, Keep in mind that what it shows is an 'overview' only. .

which is exactly what I said - "overview". If someone doesn't go and research beyond that, well - that's either dumb or lazy on their part !

[TootsieWootsie]

Thank you for that post, forest beekeeper. I so appreciate it.
And, yes, I am realizing that retirementliving.com doesn't give the whole story at all. Now that I am digging into it, I see that.
Thanks all, too!!!

[briansgi]

Property taxes: Where does your state rank? - MSN Money

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by briansgi

Property taxes: Where does your state rank? - MSN Money

Thanks... that is a pretty good chart and shows that there is more than one way to measure taxation; and that some have high and low taxation that is not apparent in many other comparisons.

[Ellwood]

I know the question was posed regarding property tax, but IMO there are so many other taxes/charges that figure into the equation of cost of living, that property tax doesn't relate the entire story. For example, there are states that tax military pensions, social security, add taxes in utility bills and other services, while the state boasts no state income tax.