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Originally Posted by SOREHOOF
The more houses that are unoccupied and not paying taxes, the more the taxes will rise to make up for it, especially school taxes. I am afraid that if this energy bill goes through it will be a double whammy. Schools use electricity too. School taxes jumped big time where I live due to oil costs and will probably skyrocket with another increase in energy costs. That coupled with a decreased tax base could be murder for me. Sucks when you're careful to buy within your limits and still have enough $ left to enjoy life then oil prices, gas prices, and taxes threaten to take it all away. I believe home assessments were inflated so localities could get more in property taxes while everything was going great guns. That may keep them inflated for a while.
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If there is a mortgage on the property and the loan was set up with escrow impounds, the mortgage holder is paying the taxes and adding it to the borrower's escrow account as an escrow advancement. If/when the property is foreclosed upon, that figure is added in to the principle due. If there are no mortgage impounds on the property the city/municipality can file a tax lien. The city/municipality will eventually get their money, but the forclosure mess does put a cog in the stream of payments they receive.
Real estate taxes are stacked in favor of the city. If the assessed value goes down, then the mil rate (the figure they use to calculate the real estate taxes due) goes up so that they "meet their goal". If the assessed value goes up, the city can crow about dropping the mil rate, while of course, still raking in the same amount of cash and spending it foolishly.
The cost of education is another thing entirely. If you really break down the school budget there is a nauseating amount paid for administration (just like in health care). While increasing energy costs do affect the overall cost, it is mainly the upwardly spiraling cost of special education that is bulging the education budget. As an example of the administrative B.S. that my taxes pay for, children will now get a report on their B.M.I. (body mass index) on their report cards - WTF? My taxes are paying to pinch fat kids' arms and then tell their fat parents that their kids are fat?!!! Turns out, cutting physical education and sitting in front of the TV with XBox 360 don't burn many calories. Grrrrr.
Back to work to pay for the nanny state.....