Affordability and Why are the taxes so high?

[DCNY]

Originally Posted by NYGirl128

I think it's also the size of the school districts. When we lived in VA, the HS were about 1000 kids/grade and you had 4-6 HS per COUNTY. There were plenty of top ranked schools there, with comparable classes sizes, just much bigger in total. In westchester you have tiny schools, in every single town, which all have to have administrative staff and you spread those costs over far fewer students.

Take the same equation and use it for sports. Your teams won't be much bigger and yet the cost is spread over very different sized student bodies.

Our house value in VA was comparable to W'chester but our taxes were 1/3 of what they are here.

Good point and this is why we are planning to move from westchester county to Fairfax county in VA. Same quality of schools, better quality of house and leaving with 1/3 home tax.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

Yes, Connecticut and Massachusetts both have "property taxes" for vehicles, whereas NY does not, just to give an example.

It really doesn't make up the difference, though. I know someone in Newton, Mass. who drives a 2006 Accord. For this year, the "property tax" for his car is about $240. Next year it will be $150, and after that it will be $60 a year for as long as he keeps that car. His home, which is now valued at just over a million, is almost 2700 square feet. It's a short walk to shops and commuter rail (under 20 mins to Back Bay station), and the schools are among the best in the U.S.

The property taxes are just about exactly $10,000. I can't even imagine what they'd be in a comparable town in Westchester or on LI. I'm sure both the tax rate and the home valuation itself would be much higher in many places. So, in that scenario, he's not really worried about the couple of hundred for the car tax.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

I find it interesting that all of this comes as somewhat of a surprise and shock. Ever see a library vote get voted down to be put up another three times until it passed. You want close proximation to NYC, great schools, a timely police response then you can expect to pay the high taxes. People pay for convenience and this is why everything is so expensive in Rockland and Westchester.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by holden125

It really doesn't make up the difference, though. I know someone in Newton, Mass. who drives a 2006 Accord. For this year, the "property tax" for his car is about $240. Next year it will be $150, and after that it will be $60 a year for as long as he keeps that car. His home, which is now valued at just over a million, is almost 2700 square feet. It's a short walk to shops and commuter rail (under 20 mins to Back Bay station), and the schools are among the best in the U.S.

The property taxes are just about exactly $10,000. I can't even imagine what they'd be in a comparable town in Westchester or on LI. I'm sure both the tax rate and the home valuation itself would be much higher in many places. So, in that scenario, he's not really worried about the couple of hundred for the car tax.

I didn't think they compared anywhere near to house property taxes, but didn't realize they were THAT low. I wonder if the cost of registering a car is cheaper too and really evens it out.....I may eventually be living in CT so would be good to know, thanks.

[PEmom]

Fairfield is pretty similar to that. 10k property tax for 1mm+ house with decent size and decent lot. car tax is nothing compared to the sky high westchester county and fire department tax. our police man and fireman and county executives do have golden nest (per recent article on LoHud). Good for them.