Are you prepared for your next tax bill? Do you know what it will be? Allow me to help.
By now you should have received this letter. It tells you what your home’s “tax assessed value” is. It’s the value placed on your home for property tax purposes. The more your house is worth, the more you pay. Spoiler alert… you’re about to pay more.
The new rates are as follows:
New Hanover County 47.5
Carolina Beach 21.5
That means Carolina Beach will tax you 21.5 cents per each $100 of your homes value. To calculate your 2021 taxes just use this simple equation:
CB tax = Your home value x 0.00215
NHC tax = Your home value x 0.00475
For example, my little beach cottage is now valued at $370,100
CB tax = 370,100 x 0.00215 = $795 (43% increase)
NHC tax = 370,100 x 0.00475 = $1,795 (40% increase)
That’s a tough pill to swallow, considering that I never had such an increase.
Check out the graph:
The solid red line is my taxes per year. The dashed blue line is my property value per year (divided by 100 for comparison) and the dotted line represents what my taxes would have been had they increased by 3% every year (inflation.)
In 2004 I paid $1,161. 16 years later I paid $1,812. The increase barely kept up with inflation. You’ll also notice that taxes rose and fell significantly in re-evaluation years (like this year.)
Why is that? Well, I can’t say. I suspect that revaluation years are a good time to re-set the bar.
What I will say is this:
I will do everything in my power to keep taxes from rising again! My philosophy of simplicity and sustainability is geared toward that goal. We should make every decision based on the long-term costs involved.
Bikes and pedestrians are easier on our roads than cars and trucks. Alternative transportation is cheaper than the old model.
If you have questions about property taxes this is a good link:
https://tax.nhcgov.com/revaluation/
If I can be of help, email me at [email protected]