Please make a nice comment on classmate post

Bryan Logemann Wednesday While I think that if the states would take over some of the currently funded receipts could alleviate some of the stress from the local governments, I don't think that it would fully reduce the strain of property tax. Property taxes cover a variety of local expenses. They are used to provide local services in the neighborhoods that are taxed. All of these have seen their own increases in costs. Part of the problem is that there are too many calculation areas that need customization in the property tax arena. One of these areas would be in the assessment ratio. There are too many opportunities for local governments to adjust the ratio to acquire more taxes. As the book states on page 138,Inaccurate and inconsistent assessment practices can cause problems with both horizontal and vertical equity. Horizontal equity is mainly due to a lack of data, assessor error, and/ or bias. Vertical equity concerns exist when properties of different market values are assessed at different percentages of these market values. According to Nebraska State Law, the assessed value of a property is based on 100% of the actual market value of the property during the year in which it is assessed, not the year it was purchased. Tax rates are another area that would require attention. Local jurisdictions have the power to adjust tax rates. This calculation for this is controlled by the determined budget set for the year. So if the budget is set grossly exaggerated the tax rate would then have to be adjusted to cover the gap. I don't think there are enough protections in place to protect the property owners. While there may be circuit breakers in place, like the homestead exemption, there is too much room for unfair taxing. I don't know that if the state budget would take on some of the expenses the local governments would reduce the cost to the property owners. Should that be the case, the taxpayer would then have to pay more for the same local services they already have. Reply