What jurisdiction has the highest property tax rate (usually expressed as dollars per $100 of assessed value)? For example, I live in Fairfax County, VA, and it’s $0.89/$100. I have been doing some searching, and all the sites talk about the absolute dollar amounts per capita but do not give the actual tax rate. New Jersey is the highest, but I’ll bet home values are also very high, so it tells me nothing about the rate.
I don’t know if we’re highest, but Texas is very high. There is no statewide property tax, however. Instead, public schools are funded by property taxes on a district-by-district basis. Until recently, the maximum rate was $1.50/100 for maintenance and operation, and then another level for debt service. Most districts were at or near the max. This maximum was lowered recently, however. I don’t recall what the new rate is, but it’s still over $1.00.
Texas has no income tax, so property taxes fund a lot of stuff. My home value is ~$160K (taxable value) and my property tax for 2006 was $3435. Since the property tax “cut”, my tax went down about $40. The governor says it went down by $200 or more. My checkbook says it was $40.
I’m pretty sure Greenwich, Connecticut, or Litchfield, CT has the highest tax rate…
It’s very hard to compare:
- The assessed value used for taxes may be set lower than the appraised value. In CT, it is 70%.
- The appraised value may be years out of date and may not reflect the actual value.
Given that, I have heard that the city of Waterbury, CT has a 60 mil rate (per $1000), which is 6% x .7 = 4.2%.