Are Your Real-Estate Taxes High?

Unfunded pension liabilities, or the gap between what state and local pensions owe versus what they have, will continue to put pressure on homeowners. Property taxes are the only real tax lever local officials have. And not all property taxes are created equal.

The median property tax paid per home in 2009 in New Jersey was 27 times higher than in Louisiana, according to creditsesame.com. The interactive graphic also shows taxes as a percentage of income and as a percentage of home values to provide a rough comparison between the states. The reason it’s only a rough comparison is that, as one reader comments:

Interesting graphic. But you need to remind readers this is just a state average. My upstate NY taxes are 2x the NY average in your graphic. And an even greater chunk of my (below median) income. Ouch!

In the interactive graphic, states that are colored red are the ones in which it is most expensive to own property. Nine states are colored red. Five of them are in New England, making the region less competitive with others around the country. And with pension reform looming, officials may find themselves out of luck if residents resist more property tax increases—because it’s certainly possible to find better values elsewhere.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.