Starke County Assessor Michelle Schouten explained current tax rates during the WKVI Morning show with Rich Wallen this week.
Schouten stated Indiana has based their assessments on market value. She added it is dependent on the real estate market. It was explained that due to the current market, assessments have gone up to unprecedented levels.
Schouten explained the tax rate normally comes down as the assessments go up. She stated, “The problem is, because this was such an unprecedented event, when the tax caps were initiated a few years ago where homesteads are capped at one percent, farmland is capped at two percent and businesses are capped at three percent and that seems like a good thing because you are going to pay less, however because you were already capped at one percent and the tax rate did not fall below one percent, even though the tax rates came down, your personal taxes still went up. So what occurred is a shift in the burden of tax from businesses to residential properties.”
Schouten went on to say because the tax rate did not come down below the one percent a person’s property was capped at, this is causing taxes to go up according to what homeowners assessments went up to. She added this is the big problem tax payers will face this year. For more information visit here.
