Taxes
Ahh, RELIEF!
April 12, 2006 
With the assistance of the Ada County Assessor’s office the GUARDIAN has calculated what the property tax bill passed by the Idaho Legislature in the closing minutes in the session will mean to you.
The quick answer is that it will probably help your property tax bill remain just about the same or a little less despite skyrocketing values. The exemption was raised from $50,000 to $75,000 but the big benefit for lower value homes is the exemption now applies to both the improvement AND the land values. Under the old law the exemption applied only to the home value at a rate of $50,000 OR 50% of the value.
Here are two hypothetical scenarios based on a lower value and a higher value home.
House #1
2005 (old law) House and land combined value $150,000
House $100,000
Land $50,000
Exempt -$50,000 (On house only)
TAX VALUE $100,000
In Boise that means you paid about $1,764 at the 2005 tax rate.
Under the new law the land also qualifies as part of the exemption for a total taxable value of $75,000
($150,000 less the exemption of $75,000) which means a 2006 tax bill of $1,323.
House #2
2005 (old law) House and land combined value $300,000
House $200,000
Land $100,000
Exempt -$50,000
TAXABLE VALUE $250,000
In Boise that means you paid about $4,411 at the 2005 rate.
Under the new law the land also qualifies as part of the exemption total, so the taxable value is reduced to $225,000 ($300,000 less the exemption of $75,000) with a 2006 tax bill of $3,970.
These figures are a pretty fair guideline, but since there is less value to be taxed, some agencies may raise the LEVY rate to compensate for loss of total taxable value. It is expected to be minimal for the next year however.
The GUARDIAN’s personal home stayed the same in value, but the land nearly doubled in one year. However the exemption brought the total TAX down by about $23!
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Apr 13, 2006, 7:41 pm
Ada County. You have us over a barrel.
FLAT TAX!!!!!!
Yeah, that goes for you too Micron, you little snitches… DRAM PRICE FIXERS!!!!
NO MORE TAX CUTS!!! Unless I’m getting them, of course…
Oh, the convenience of hippocracy.
Apr 14, 2006, 1:17 am
Band-aid & Punt – Apply the words to the situation as you see fit.
Apr 14, 2006, 7:03 am
Property tax relief, yes, but modest property tax relief. At least the Senate voted down that HORRIBLE proposal to transfer our property tax relief to the sales tax. What a revolting idea that was! had that passed there might have been a revolt.
We need to repeal the sales tax and the property tax and collect taxes only on income (and steeply progressively).
Apr 14, 2006, 1:21 pm
The Assessor’s Office seems to enjoy increasing values on most of us commoners.
Relief from taxes? Not really. Not anywhere. Not when all is said and done. What they give you at one point in time and/or place they take away a little more at another point in time and/or place.
I don’t mind help out another commoner but I am tired of helping out anyone that makes more money than me.
Drop back and kick! Or soak it, as one of my coaches used to say.