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ABOUT MY TAXES
 MY
TAXES, WHAT ARE THEY? ARE THEY FAIR?
Taxes may always be with us, but the amount that is
billed to individual property owners each year isn’t
necessarily correct nor do property taxes always have to
go up.
Property taxes are an important part of how local
public services are funded, including city services,
police and fire protection, parks and public schools
among others. What exactly is your “fair” share of taxes
may be determined by both your property’s value and how
it is used. These determinations are usually made by
others years before. Unless the information is accurate,
your tax bill may not be as fair as it should be. It may
be too high.
Real estate taxes are a major consideration when
evaluating the costs of owning property. A property
owner’s ability to meet mortgage payments, pay insurance
premiums and anticipate property taxes all figure into
decisions about buying, selling or continuing to own
property. Now that annual tax bills have become a
significant part of the cost of property ownership, it
is especially important to make sure that you are not
paying more than your fair share.
Property taxes in South Carolina have been based on
assessed values taken from actual sales of similar
properties in the local market. This form of taxation is
known as Ad Valorem, (a Latin phrase loosely
translated as “derived from the market”). But “similar”
sales are not always alike. Real estate brokers confirm
that rapidly rising property taxes are often a major
reason why established property owners choose to sell
before they may be ready. As a Senior Appraiser for the
Assessor’s Office, Henry Copeland noticed immediately
following county-wide reassessments that the number of
property sales located in many historic neighborhoods
appeared to rise disproportionately to the market as a
whole. Until they were sold, many of these properties
had not been reviewed by local assessment officials for
years. Not until after the sales were actually reviewed
more closely was it discovered that the quality and
condition recorded for many properties had been
overstated. This alone caused a number of properties to
be over assessed. In rapidly rising real estate markets,
when the data is correctly documented, tax bills for
older properties are found in many cases to increase
less steeply than the property’s market values, if the
tax bill increases at all.
Sometimes the errors are decades old. Just
because the last reassessment may have reflected only a
slight rise in taxes for you this time, doesn’t mean
that the steep rise in taxes after a reassessment of
several years before wasn’t based on bad data. The
negative effect of data errors on a property’s tax bill
can be cumulative. Though rare, a complete review of
your records may support an appeal that could result in
corrections to be retroactive for as much as two years
in certain cases.
Real estate brokers understand buyers concerns for
rising property taxes can cause some to avoid
considering property listings in certain locations. A
better understanding of how property owners can identify
and correct mistakes that occur in the tax assessment
system may help improve buyer’s perceptions of a given
market or specific property.
The information
shown below is based on Charleston County taxes,
public records and property values. This also reflects
similar records about local tax assessments that can be
found in any one of the other 45 counties in South
Carolina. Check the appropriate county where specific
property or real estate may be located for details
applicable to those counties. For additional details
about Charleston County Government records,
CLICK HERE.
Based on the 2006
tax year, which reflects the most current
information available, a reduction of your property’s
value as recorded for tax assessment purposes can result
in a significant annual tax savings to you. For example,
if the assessment value of an owner occupied property
located in the City of Charleston were to be reduced by
$100,000, the annual tax bill would be reduced by as
much as $760 in just the first year (or by as much as
$3,800 over a 5-year reassessment cycle). If the same
property was not the owner’s legal residence the savings
would be much greater. In that case the annual tax bill
would be reduced by more than $1,235 (reflecting a
savings of more than $6,000 over the same 5-year
period). Since the potential savings to the owner
following a successful appeal can be realized annually,
only one appeal is needed to begin reducing your
property’s annual tax liability for years to come.
To estimate your
property’s combined tax bill for properties located
within Charleston County, first find your property’s tax
district and the current millage rate (tax rate) by
referring to the 2006 Millage Breakdown published
by the County Auditor’s Office.
To find your
property’s most recent appraised value as used for
assessment purposes, look for the appraised value
(not the assessment or assessed value) shown either on a
recent tax bill or on county assessment records by using
Charleston County Government’s website, specifically its
GIS on-line locator,
CLICK HERE.
Calculate an estimate of your tax bill, based on
the latest available public information, by using your
property’s current value listed by the County Assessor
(or an estimate of what you think the value should be),
applying it to a downloaded copy of this spreadsheet
entitled Charleston County Tax Calculator 2006.
Be sure to complete all the necessary variables (found
in the boxes shown in yellow) taken from the figures and
factors for Charleston County and the specific tax
district where your property is located. These can be
found in the most recent tax tables entitled the 2006
Millage Breakdown (see appropriate paragraph above).
For Definitions and
Frequently Asked Questions/FAQ,
CLICK HERE.
(Adobe Acrobat/PDF)
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