Comments on: California starts issuing IOUs as bankruptcy nears

By: C. Brunetti

C. Brunetti — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:48:52 +0000

This is a bit mind boggling! To think of a state handing out IOUs!! I also don’t understand how this will help anything in the long run. I really like Terry’s idea of paying state legislators with IOUs.

By: Edward Harrison

Edward Harrison — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:15:17 +0000

Emma, here's what I know. Property taxes are issued based on a tax assessment by the sate or municipality. This assessment is different from the one given when a house is for sale. In making the assessment, the appraiser does an appraisal of the land value and structure value. ALl of this information is publicly available. For example, where I live, in the DC area, one can find the tax assessment value of any home online at washingtonpost.com.In California, however, there is a kink in order to keep property taxes from skyrocketing. The law is proposition 13 and it is designed to keep taxes down. This was a key issue in the last gubernatorial election.As for the other intricacies, Wikipedia has a good entry on ho the process works. Note that the assessments are usually not set in stone. One can appeal if one thinks the assessment is too high. For years, in the DC area, property tax assessed value lagged the market value by a good margin, but with prices falling, this is changing and more appeals should be expected.I hope that answers most of your questions.Ed

By: Terry

Terry — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:49:03 +0000

A quick solution to the California budget crisis: Pay the state legislators with IOUs. We’ll soon see how long their political ideology continues to confound the state’s economic need.

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:41:37 +0000

A few quick questions for you:
When are property tax bills issued in most States?
Are the assessments based on market value of the homes?
How many months “lag” are inherent in these “fair market values” that the assessments are marked to? 6 months perhaps? What are the implications when housing prices are dropping so fast?
If homeowners are unable to pay inflated tax bills by the deadline, does this mean forced foreclosures?
How do the various mortgages deal with this?
Is the property tax portion included in the mortgage payment for most homeowners?
If there is any issue related to this, when would the effects be seen? May?
Are these potential negative effects related to unpaid property taxes being used in the revenue forecasts by various municipalities and States such as California?

OK, I know you may not be able to address all of these questions, I’m just wondering if there are potential problems in this area that aren’t being addressed.