Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
Most states base your property taxes on how much similar homes are selling for in your neighborhood. By deliberately increasing the value of the one home over another just because the view is better out the window is just another way government can increase your tax burden. And as stated views are subjective. I also would prefer to have the trees. Are they also going to charge higher property taxes if your yard is greener than your neighbor's? If you have 10 trees on your property and your neighbor has 5, is your property worth more? Trees can be sold for money. 
Apache |
Basing a tax on a home's fair market value is the most rational, most fair, and most efficient way of taxing it. As mentioned upthread, it would be ludicrous to tax two otherwise identical homes the same if one has an ocean view and a FMV of $750,000 and the other is in a bad neighborhood, has a view of the dump, and a FMV of $150,000.
Whether they've calculated the FMV of your home correctly or not is a completely separate issue. And it's also an issue you can challenge; that's become pretty common in my state due to the housing market crash.
ON TOPIC -
There are already several software service providers that calculate and keep track of sales tax rates across the US; they've been around for a long time now and make the process trivial...download a song from iTunes and they will add the appropriate tax, if applicable.