Sunnyvale home owners Kit and Miki Wetzler were very surprised to find that their home value for tax purposes shot up from $769,900 to $918,275 in just one year.
The couple commented that "Going up that much in one year certainly would be nice, but in no way reflects reality". So what exactly caused this sudden increase in value?
Proposition 8.
I know when I say Prop 8, most people automatically think of the fight for the legalization of gay marriage. This is a different Prop 8, which is a corollary to Prop 13. Prop 13 was passed in 1978 and limits the tax increase to 2% a year or the California consumer price index, whichever is less.
Prop 8 asks that assessors restore some or all of the value as our market starts to recover. This can make the house valued up to the original purchase price plus the 2% tax increase. Which can be good and bad.
For the Wetzlers, it is good because their house is said to be worth more. However, this means that they have to pay more in property taxes. Hoping to bring down their sudden increase in taxes, the Wetzlers did as the notice said, and called for an information review. Since the Wetzlers are considered to have well paying jobs, they can afford the extra taxes, but can still be a burden.
Different areas are recovering at different times, so places like Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, South Sunnyvale that have good schools are more likely to see increases in property taxes. Slower areas such as Gilroy and Morgan Hill are not going to be affected by this as quickly as their surrounding cities.
"Its not going to kill us, but certainly will put a dent in our funds," Wetzler says. "...it dramatically increases our property tax bill for no actual adjustment in value."
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Although rise in property tax is definitely not pleasant sight for home owners, it’s good to see that house prices are being brought up to their actual value. Yes, they’ll have to “burden” and pay the extra taxes; however it might be better in the long run. Especially in times of economic trouble, many people probably feel more reluctant to pay the extra taxes. However, the extra tax that the Wetzler’s are paying can benefit the economy and them. If people are paying the actual price owed to the government, the government would be receiving more money. Then with sufficient supply the government can pay off its debt and hopefully jump start the economy in the right direction.
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