I was reading through the comments on this story about the Wake School Board when I came across this one:
“Our taxes are low! ”
We have some of the highest taxes in the nation! What are you talking about?
Timbo
GOLO member since September 19, 2008
January 6, 2010 8:59 a.m.
Highest taxes in the nation? This was news to me. I decided to check the facts.
A few web searches later brought me to this MSN story called “Property tax levels by state”, which had data listed from the non-partisan Tax Foundation. According to the Tax Foundation, North Carolina ranks 30th in property tax rate and 35th in income tax rate. I’m no math whiz but that seems to put the state in the bottom half.
For a more-local look, there’s the Tax Foundation’s list of property taxes by county. Even though Raleigh is the country’s 45th largest metropolitan areas by population, Wake County ranks as the 934th most expensive county in the nation. That’s firmly in the bottom half of the nation’s 1,822 counties. In fact, you have to go through 532 counties before you get to your first North Carolina county: Cumberland.
Even more locally, the City of Raleigh’s property tax rate is tied with Morrisville for third-lowest in Wake County. [PDF] Only Cary and Apex are lower.
As they say, this myth is thoroughly busted.
while I’m glad you took the time to debunk a poster on a local news site. Thank you. 😉
first off, I agree with your initial premise that we don’t have some of the highest taxes in the nation. I do, however, still think they’re too high but that’s me and that’s another discussion.
One of your data points is trying to show us that low tax rate equals low taxes. Not necessarily true. Notice that the lowest 4 tax rates in Wake county, are Cary, Apex, Raleigh and Morrisville. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume (without citation) that Raleigh and Cary’s property values are the highest in the county. So, it makes sense the the rate doesn’t have to be as high to generate more revenue. In fact, many times when tax values are calculated rates are actually reduced because tax value went up. Your bill might actually even go down a little while your poor neighbor’s goes up.
Again, this isn’t saying your wrong that our taxes aren’t some of the highest in the nation. I just think some of your data points are sketchy at best. The property taxes by county is good but even that probably doesn’t tell the whole picture. For example, in my home state of Connecticut we didn’t have legal jurisdictions known as counties. We had historical borders just for tradition sake but there is no county government like Wake County. So how do you calculate their taxes per county? My home town of Enfield is in Hartford County along with, wait for it…Hartford! But there is definitely a different tax rate and base between those two towns. Seems like a monumental task. I’m sure the data is good though so I’m just splitting hairs on this one.
And then you compare Raleigh’s population with Wake’s rank? That one was a little confusing to me. Just because Raleigh is the 45th largest city doesn’t mean Wake is also the 45th largest county. It looks good on paper but doesn’t compute to me.
Anyway, thought I’d get in some stuff here…Have a great day!
Oh, and I’m the egg man
You do bring up a good point, Scott, and that is what is considered a tax? There are plenty of fees and charges that might be construed by some as taxes and others as fees. One has to use some judgment when compiling these types of lists. I’m looking at tax rates in my data. That seems the fairest way to compare tax bills.
As far as citing the Raleigh MSA, my point isn’t that Wake is the 45th biggest county (which may or may not be true) but to show that bigger cities don’t necessarily mean higher or lower taxes.
Hartford County comes in at 186. Ouch!
Your first mistake was reading the comments section of a WRAL story. It’s a level of stupid that makes YouTube look like Masterpiece Theater.
I won’t disagree, Wade!
Wade is right. I thought about starting a blog picking out a “gem” of the day from the comments of WRAL, and dissecting it, but feared that might be a hole my sanity couldn’t climb back out of.
war Wade!
And yes, Mark, that’s a good question about what is a tax? And, yes Hartford is taxed pretty heavily. That’s why the family is here now!
🙂