Property-Tax-Comparison Hillsborough Pinellas
The Tax Foundation is a Washington DC based think tank that collects data and publishes research studies on tax policies at the federal and state levels. The group is most famous for its annual calculation of Tax Freedom Day for the United States, which it has produced since the early 1970s. The Foundation’s mission is to “educate taxpayers about sound tax policy and the size of the tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government.”
The Foundation recently released their their 2008 “Consensus Survey” on owner-occupied property taxes of 775 counties across the US. Not surprisingly, Pinellas Counties fared pretty well, ranking 405, lower than the national average in Taxes Paid ($1641 compared to $1897), and Taxes as a Percentage of Home Values (.8% compared to 1.0%). Pinellas County residents did, however, pay a higher percentage of taxes in relation to household income than the national average (3.1% compared to 2.9%).
Hillsborough County did not fair as well, ranking as 277 highest. Hillsborough County ranked higher than the national average in Taxes Paid, Taxes as a Percentage of of Home Value and Taxes as a Percentage of Income. Below is the comparative chart, with Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties in relation to the US average.
I would be negligent if I failed to note that this report takes in to consideration homesteaded/owner-occupied property only. Data and rankings in this report would be considerably different for Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties (and presumably the entire State of Florida) if one were to include non-homesteaded property in this survey. Commercial real estate, multi-family housing and investment or second home owners pay CONSIDERABLY higher taxes than their owner-occupied neighbors. It is not unusual to see vacation home owners pay 5-6 times their homesteaded neighbors, with both properties being identical in every physical way.
For those interested in trivia, Apache County, Arizona pays the lowest property taxes in the country, $126/yr. We wonder if there are any governmental services provided by the county.
See The Tax Foundation for the complete report on property taxes!
Also of Note:
The Tax Foundation ranked Florida #5 in 2010 as the State with the “Best Business Climate” Index. This was unchanged from their 2009 report. South Dakota topped the list as number 1, while Wyoming slipped to number 2.
For the complete list of “Which States are Best for Business?” Click Here!
