In the 1980s , Japan experienced a major roar in its existent estate market . As prices rose , the value of state exploded . At one point in 1989 , the note value of the grounds of the Japanese Imperial Palace in Tokyo was deserving more than all of the real landed estate in California [ source : Epstein ] .
The tax assessor in each of California ’s 58 counties at the time are the unsung hero of that little tale . Without them , we would n’t have the data that was compiled to receive the entire note value of California ’s real estate . That ’s because county assessor in the United States are responsible for valuing every single piece of attribute in their county .
Every few years – usually three – assessor guess the value of each parcel ofreal property(with the general exclusion of school , church service and charities ) in the county . Real property is the combination of estate and any structures on it . Every vacant lot , apartment composite , strip shopping mall and home has a economic value ; the tax assessor estimates that time value base on the current actual estate . In between these three - year pushes , the assessor identifies drop properties and locates and contacts the owner . The tax assessor also creates value appraisal for new construction and determine whether any reassessment is in order when a place switch ownership .
The tax assessor amass all of these property values into anassessment roll , which is a master listing of the note value of all the veridical dimension in a given county or legal power .
The value idea created by assessors take a turn of factors into account , in addition to grocery store economic value . For exercise , a newfangled shed make in a homeowner ’s back yard will likely increase the value of the actual property the twelvemonth after it ’s built . Over meter , however , the added note value that shed lend to the property will decline as the shed ages and deteriorates .
There are two way assessor can approach valuing real property . The first is thesales approach– basing the value on the sale Price of like structure and property in the area that have been deal recently . There ’s also thecost glide path , which uses as a basis the cost of build a new similar structure on a similar piece of place and deducting any years or circumstance - touch on wear and tear [ source : State of Maryland ] .
What form of rabidness would create a position that call for such painstaking and thorough work ? The answer is simple : taxis .
Assessing Property Taxes
The point in creating the belongings value estimated by the assessor is to determine how muchtaxto levy against a property owner . Property taxes are usually of vital importance for the local authorities ’s budget . They pay for service like shoal , law enforcement , fireand ambulance services , and parks . But how does an assessor calculate property taxation ?
The most ordinarily used system of rules of taxing is therate system . On sale taxes , for example , the state roll up an established , static pace per dollar . So a one - dollar candy bar really be $ 1.07 in a land where the sales revenue enhancement is 7 per centum . The fluctuating amount the body politic collects through the sales tax depend on thedollarvalue of commodity sold in the state that class .
This is n’t the case with attribute taxes , which use abudget - base systemof taxation . Under this system , legislators determine how much money their county will demand to pay up for the services that municipality apply belongings taxes to cover . When the legislators determine how much money will be needed , it ’s up to the revenue enhancement assessor to part the amount among thetax base– in this guinea pig , the prop owners in the county [ source : Guppy ] .
The tax recruit against real belongings is a percent of the total tax amount legislators collect . So while the values of homes and business may shift , the amount the county collect does n’t fluctuate free-base on these values ; the property tax a homeowner pay does . When all property possessor have paid the tax , the marrow should equal the amount the legislators decreed should be levied against the county as a whole .
ordinarily the property tax is express in dollar amount per hundred or thousand dollar of a prop ’s value . If the tax is one one dollar bill per $ 100 of time value , the attribute tax recruit against a habitation valued at $ 108,000 will be $ 1,080 ( $ 108,000 / $ 100 x $ 1 ) [ source : State of Maryland ] .
you may see how fairness and truth are self-aggrandising part of a county assessor ’s Book of Job . An overvalued home means a property owner will compensate more than he or she really owe ; undervaluing a property means that the county may fall short in its revenue projections .
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