Knowledge Focus: Property Tax
Property Tax
Property tax is a tax that is based on a property's value. It is sometimes called an ad valorem tax, meaning according to value. Anyone who attends public school, drives on roads, uses the library, has police protection, or benefits from county services, receives services paid for, at least in part, by property taxes.
Anyone who owns property must pay some sort of real estate tax to the government. But actually, everyone pays property taxes one way or another.
Homeowners and owners of commercial, industrial, and agricultural property pay property
tax directly.
Renters contribute to the property tax, but do so indirectly through their rent. Landlords
consider taxes a cost of doing business and adjust their rents to cover them.
Leaseholders pay property taxes on real property leased from an owner whose property is
exempt ( e.g., the state owns agricultural property and leases it to a farmer).
If a real estate owner does not pay the required taxes on a property, the county will offer the property up for sale at an auction as a tax sale to help generate the lost tax income.
