Residential home values dropped nearly 16 percent around the country from 2007 to 2008, but property owners in most states paid more in fiscal year 2008 than they did a year earlier, according to a new
The Tax Foundation published a handy table comparing the percentage change in state and local property tax collections. In first place was Florida, which saw an 11.7 percent increase, followed by Indiana at 11.6 percent and New Mexico at 10.2 percent. Only four states showed lower collections in fiscal 2008 than fiscal 2007: Michigan, South Carolina, Texas and Vermont. Nationwide, property tax collections climbed an average of 4.2 percent.
It will be interesting to see how the states have fared more recently, when many states and localities have been forced to raise property taxes to make up for lost revenues from other sources and balance their budgets. Chances are the trend continued, only more dramatically, with the property values falling more sharply and the taxes continuing to climb.
