BEWARE: YOUR PROPERTY TAXES ARE ABOUT TO GO UP

The first installment of your property taxes was due on Monday, December 10, 2012. Unfortunately, the checks you write in the coming years will most likely be for much larger amounts.

A few recently published stories note that after the passage of Proposition 30 in November a coalition of groups and Democratic legislators around the state are working hard to “reform” Proposition 13, a landmark property tax measure approved by voters in 1978. Prop. 13 capped property tax increases at two percent per year in most cases.

The property tax “reforms” Democrats are pushing are just a new way of saying they want to make it easier to raise your property taxes.

In addition, as the Ventura County Star recently reported, “Over the next six months, [county tax] assessors will prepare next year’s property tax valuations. Lots of homeowners could be in for a big surprise when their property tax bills arrive next fall.”

For the past few years, county assessors around the state have reassessed property values as the housing market declined. In many cases, the value of a property dropped below its purchase price, and property taxes were lowered to reflect the property’s lower value.

But now that property values seem to be increasing, many property owners will soon discover that their property taxes can also rise more than two percent per year when the reassessment is returning the value of the home to the price an owner paid for it.

So, beware. This could mean thousands of dollars in additional taxes for your family next year.