Property taxes paid on my office in Fort Wayne
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 7/29/09 @ 9:01 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics, Uncategorized
I have received my property tax assessment for our portion of our office building. My wife and I purchased 1/4 of an office building maybe one mile from my house. Our office is located behind the Dupont Branch of the Allen County Public Library. The building is new and we moved into it in December of 2007. We had our portion of the building built to our specifications.
We truly like our building.
I received my property tax bill for our office. Please realize that:
- The office was finished in December of 2007.
- The office is about 2000 square feet.
- It is an office condominium, we just own 1/4 of the building. (The rest of the inside of the building is unfinished and will be built out when a buyer purchases it)
My portion of the building was assessed with a land value of $44,700 and my portion of the building at $144,800 for a grand total of $189,500.
I think the assessment is fair and I will not appeal this assessment.
That being said I owe $5,172.96 in taxes on my building. Believe it or not I am paying 2.7298% of the value of the building in taxes for just one year. For 2008 taxes payable in 2009 commercial property taxes in Indiana are capped at 3.5%. Next year they are going to be capped at 3%.
Back when the state legislature reformed the property tax system I opposed the caps as they will be next year; as a reminder they will be:
- 1% for residential property.
- 2% for farms and rental properties.
- 3% for commercial properties.
All of the houses in my neighborhood will see their property taxes drop significantly next year; however, I imagine that I will pay 3% of the value of my office in property taxes next year.
I think the tax caps should be the same percentage for all types of property. Having commercial properties pay triple what home owners pay next year is absurd and will result in many businesses increasing their prices…
Mike Sylvester
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4 Responses to “Property taxes paid on my office in Fort Wayne”
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1. 1% for residential property.
2. 2% for farms and rental properties.
3. 3% for commercial properties.
Are these rates fair? Let us take farm property for example. They are large, normally located outside a city limit (unless annexed). Property taxes go to support local government and schools. Farms are normally on well and septic systems, so they receive no special services. The larger the farms, the fewer the number of people and thus the services they need from government should be lower. On top of this, they end up paying a 1% local income tax. The farm is an income generator. Some people invest in equities and bonds. Indiana used to have an intangibles tax that taxed the total value of a person’s investments as of 12/31/xxxx. This was ruled unconstitutional. Farmers are number the fewest among us and maybe that is why the tax rates are the way they are, the majority simply voted to raise their taxes.
As for business rate of 3% for commercial properties, are they like farms that generate local income as Fort Wayne City Council assume? Keep in mind that any business until lately is not owned by the government. Any property taxes paid are part of doing business and is a cost, reducing taxable income. A high commercial tax rate would be a disincentive to move to Indiana.
Does anyone know why the rate is not the same? Obviously it was done to lower the rates on the most number of people with the intention of buying votes. Are those who are taxed at a higher rate using more services? Do they present an inherent higher risk on police, fire and others that require a higher premium? Maybe it is the thought that commerce generally requires heavy loads to be delivered (GM, Steel, castings). If this is the case, then service industries are subsidizing heavy industry with support of roads.
Is this artificially setting up our economy to fail when we do this?
Mr. Larsen: When the Indiana House committee on taxes met at South Side High School last year, I asked the same question (why 3% on commercial?).
Jeff Espic, representative for the area around Markle, and the ranking Republican on that committee answered:
He stated that the higher percentage was to partially off set the elimination of the Inventory Tax - something that had not been paid by owners of residential, rental or farm properties.
John b. Kalb wrote “He stated that the higher percentage was to partially off set the elimination of the Inventory Tax - something that had not been paid by owners of residential, rental or farm properties.”
John, this sounds like political spin to me. Inventory tax to me is no different than the intangibles tax that was ruled unconstitutional years ago. In simple terms there is no good reason, they are a small group (few voters) and they were able to buy the votes of citizens by using other peoples money.
Similar to a question asked a candidate “what can you do for me?” The politician’s reply is “I can take his money and give it to you.”
Thanks John for that bit of info.
Mike,
I spoke before city council and suggested that instead of issuing unfair tax abatements to specific businesses we should lower business taxes for everybody. Government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers.
I think I was in the minority on that view…