The “Bright Spot” In The US Economy
According to one state bureaucrat. Seriously, this is his “Bright Spot”. Property taxes are rising even as property values are plummeting.
Tonight Show host Jay Leno’s property taxes on his Beverly Hills home will increase $1,500 this year to $54,000, even though home values in the area fell by one-third since last year, California public records show. Reason: His mansion is taxed based on the $2.5 million purchase price in 1987, plus 2% annual increases.
Nevada schools will collect $730 million in property taxes this year, up 5%, says Nevada deputy school superintendent James Wells. “Property taxes are a bright spot. Sales taxes are the problem,” he says.
I realize Jay Leno makes enough that the increase won’t even register.
Not everyone in the country makes what Leno does, however. For them, this matters – a lot.
Funny how the people who have to pay for all these government jobs may not think the increases are a “bright spot”, isn’t it?
By crosspatch, December 4, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
So I took a gamble today. I figure the stock market has taken a pretty good beating so it might be a good time to buy. Several families of mutual funds allow you to sign up online and they will waive initial investment requirements if you have regular investments automatically deposited. Some of these regular investment requirements are also quite small in amount.
So I went online and signed up for a broad market index fund (one that matches the S&P Total Market index) and set up a paltry $50 automatic investment. If the market continues to tank, no problem, I am not out a lot and I am buying more shares for my $50 and when it starts to go up, I could do pretty well.
Oh, and here’s another tip … US Government Series I savings bonds are paying over 6% interest right now and you can buy them for as little as $50. You have to hold them for at least a year or you forfeit three months interest but if you think about it like a 1 year CD that is paying 3 times more than my bank is currently paying for 1 year CDs with only a $50 investment required, it isn’t a bad deal at all.
By sam, December 5, 2008 @ 2:40 pm
Sounds like a peculiarity of the California tax system to me. Here in Salt Lake, the assessed value of both properties I own dropped in 2008 as compared to 2007.