It is getting very hard to survive on social security with property taxes.

MACKTEXAS said:
In Texas (and I thought Indiana) property taxes are frozen on a homestead for owners at age 65, meaning your property tax liability should be the same year after year after age 65, unless you make noticeable improvements like adding a garage, room onto the house, etc. onto your property. Some or all of those changes will likely increase your tax bill.

A new roof is maintenance and does not increase an assessment. I have not made changes to my home, other than normal maintenance, but my assessment is raised every year because property values for my area are increasing. Nevertheless, my tax liability has remained the same.

I have not appealed a tax appraisal, as I cannot think of how that would benefit me, and it could work against my heirs, who would do better at getting top dollar for the house if the appraised value was higher, not lower. Many if not all buyers look at the appraised value when making offers.
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Sales comps consider tax assessment?
 
Well just as I've written numbers of times on this board at length, you can thank Wall Street and especially powerful real estate and banking corporations and REITs for back door deals with politicians and media advertising to keeping interest rates low for years of unfair speculation, keeping national borders open making sure the limited housing is in always in demand, and the wealthy across the world can buy their way into the USA bypassing fair immigration, putting pressure on housing. They understand they cannot really publicly explain how this complex activity occurs for what is going on lest we peon citizens wake up and protest.

Otherwise, they have bought over decades much land with free money and developed mostly only new expensive McMansions our middle and lower working classes can barely afford or want to buy but have no choice as they unfairly, inconsiderately, selfishly, foolishly, squeeze out as much as they can. How else will they be able to retire down at Palm Springs or Palm Beach playing golf? Much of Canada facing these issues finally wised up a few years ago.

And government urban workers pay has only ever risen over decades in higher directions because local government employee contracts go up in healthy prosperous times but in recessions rarely drops at all. Elected assessors would not have a job if their employees had to take cuts so know how that game really works. But at some point, in Pyramid Schemes, fools are left holding a worthless empty bag wondering how such could develop so over years? Just like condo owners that can no longer sell due to insane monthly hidden HOA fees without taking big investment losses their mortgage banks end up with and make new fire sails to REITs with.
 
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I pay property taxes to the village and town. Also for water and sewer "rent", not to mention the school tax. Town taxes come due in January, Village is in June, water & sewer are paid twice a year in April and October and school tax is due in September. This is the tally for last year:

Town - $808.48
Village - $647.80
W&S total - $352.20
School - 2567.31 (this is with STAR applied)
Total - $4375.79

Already this year the Town tax was $860.73. Over $50 increase from last year.
 
officerripley said:
What's a stadium got to do with school taxes? :unsure:
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The local town high school I moved out of spent 3-5 million dollars on astroturfing all their grass fields including 1.5 million on the football stadium/track. I left but the plans and money were already budgeted for it. Which is another reason they wanted a 5% increase in school taxes.

Should add they want to upgrade a gym which is already commercial size and quality with rows of bikes, treadmills, machines, weights etc.
 
WhatInThe said:
The local town high school I moved out of spent 3-5 million dollars on astroturfing all their grass fields including 1.5 million on the football stadium/track. I left but the plans and money were already budgeted for it. Which is another reason they wanted a 5% increase in school taxes.

Should add they want to upgrade a gym which is already commercial size and quality with rows of bikes, treadmills, machines, weights etc.
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Our town of around 25k needed an indoor facility for band training.
 
Twostep said:
Our town of around 25k needed an indoor facility for band training.
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That's not bad but the size of the town can make it expensive. Everyone considers themselves a specialist with special needs now a days. They could probably rent or lease something cheaper but then there's travel, liability etc.

Then with the newly astroturfed field and resurfaced track in the op they decided to restrict public use so they can rent it out to other schools and organizations. So the public can't use what they paid for. Most that were using it weren't hardcore athletes so what damage can walkers do to a neoprene/asphalt track? Or astroturfed field?
 
I pay a total of over $10,000 a year in different taxes, plus water and sewer charges. I don’t complain, but I have great empathy for those who are trying to hold onto their homes. They have few options and bankers who offer reverse mortgages really take advantage of older people who are giving every dime they have in an attempt to keep their house.

At the same time, I have no answer or solution to overtake this problem, but I think local governments that have seniors living in their community with sparse earnings should be given added reductions on their taxes.

I have a friend in Tennessee, who I believe told me because of his limited income is able to deduct $70,000 off of his school tax assessment. I don’t know exactly how it works, but he keeps telling he is satisfied with the taxes he pays.
 
SS seemed to work for many in years or decades past. Now the cost of living, inflation make that all but impossible.

Another part of the issue is decades ago surviving members of family wether spouse, child, etc might get some life insurance if someone passed. Also if one worked 20-30 years with one company the pension was such there was money to help pay things like taxes.

From what I've heard the purchase of life insurance has been on decline as have those getting a full pension from 30 years with one company. Those 2 factors alone can affect seniors hard.

But unfortunately many wind up depending on ss for what ever reason and those dollars don't buy as much period.
 
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I can relate. The value of our home has more than doubled in 19 years and so have our property taxes. We have no desire to move so this just makes our expenses higher. I hired a company to appeal the taxes but they haven't been successful for many years.

The only saving grace is that when I hit 65 we not only had homestead exemption but a cap on our property taxes. I can't imagine what I would do if I had to pay them via my Social Security income. That doesn't even pay for my monthly living expenses.
 
seadoug said:
It's ironic, actually. Seniors can barely afford to stay in their homes and young people can't afford to buy homes. What generation benefits in this scenario?
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Middle aged drunks benefit and they show it but getting drunk , partying every weekend in Key West and just celebrating life while acting like they are 18 , lol.

That is the new party bunch .
 

Well I seem to have opened a can of worms in discussion. That's great because at least we are sharing our stories even if we can't do anything about them, at least it's a release valve where someone listens. In my case I went through the paperwork for appeal and even as a pre law student in my younger years I can tell you the wording and avenues are stacked against the home owner. No one chooses to live just on social security, which frankly we paid for.​

 
That's not a hand out. Factor in the compound interest the gov't used to borrow against and lend out at higher and higher interest rates with money that was not theirs. If we do the math it's obvious theft. I could give you reasons because of degrees in Politics but that does not make me smarter. It just clarifies the societal problem today. In my life I made mistakes in trusting people that robbed me and therefore left me with this tiny income.
 
In some cases people will condemn me but look around . ai is taking over jobs and soon there will be no human workers in average jobs. then what? for our children when we die and the equity in our homes means nothing to even bury us.? How do we fight a machine that is an instrument of tyranny? It's not about me anymore. I am dying of congestive heart failure and liver failure. Mostly from a broken heart though from the investment in others that , in the end gave not return. In a sense I'm grateful the journey is almost over. I know you can relate when I say I am so tired.
 
As an idealistic 70s counterculture person with somewhat negative attitudes towards excessive wealth and materialism, despite making middle to upper middle class incomes in high tech, I often took months to years off between jobs until my savings dwindled. But never bought real estate, never took loans, didn't have a home to fill with junk, was never in debt. As a frugal retired senior with a higher monthly SS income, actually have more savings now than when I retired in 2017. Thus in my personal situation, an adequate SS income has not been an issue.
 
WhatInThe said:
SS seemed to work for many in years or decades past. Now the cost of living, inflation make that all but impossible.

Another part of the issue is decades ago surviving members of family wether spouse, child, etc might get some life insurance if someone passed. Also if one worked 20-30 years with one company the pension was such there was money to help pay things like taxes.

From what I've heard the purchase of life insurance has been on decline as have those getting a full pension from 30 years with one company. Those 2 factors alone can affect seniors hard.

But unfortunately many wind up depending on ss for what ever reason and those dollars don't buy as much period.
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My father received a pension from two companies after he retired, although one was negligible. My mother received them after he passed away, along with his Social Security payments. Their house was paid for, so she easily had enough to pay for her monthly expenses. He turned in his life insurance policy and put it in the stock market. I tried to manage his investments as best I could after he passed.

Life is different for today's seniors. Very few receive pensions so we have to rely on Social Security and any investments we might have. The "gravy days" are long gone. I put everything I could into my 401k while I was working and I'm happy I had the opportunity to do so. My Social Security payments are now a part of my income but my investments are an even more important part.
 
Well retirement advisors often refer to the "3-legged stool." That means Social Security, savings (which includes home equity built over time,), and investments (which used to be pensions but became 401k, 457, etc. plans for most people). The well-to-do also tended to have separate direct investments but that's over and above the "stool."

Many have been lured into trying to live beyond their means, and stuck money into direct investments even though that decision may be dubious. IRAs, 401k, Roths, all make more sense for a working man with money to invest. Most workers don't have the leisure time to study and manage direct investments.

Some people have ended up balanced on a stool with one leg: Social Security. Those people fall into two camps, one where their work career didn't support the other two legs and another where they had the means but chose to dissipate their resources trying to live beyond their means.

The well-off can take care of themselves. I get bored by those who whinge but actually live high on the hog and insist on poor choices. They will always want "more" and love to cry about how poor they feel.

Others are still working full time in their 60s, sometimes trapped actually living in a "boarding" situation renting space in someone's house. They can't scrape the cash together to pay the security deposit on an apartment even if they find one they can afford monthly, much less pay their moving expenses. Just keeping an old car on the road may be killing them financially. Once they can collect on Social Security they may encounter work income limitations unless they stick it out until their full retirement age.
 
@friar ... here's a link to some possible Indiana property tax considerations.
Like maybe, Homestead Deduction, Over 65 Deduction and others.
Deductions Property Tax

DISCLAIMER: I don't live in Indiana. Here in Alabama I pay no property tax on my home.
Up until I turned 65 I had a homestead deduction that reduced my property tax.
When I turned 65, I applied for and received the over 65 deduction which cut my property tax to zero.
The rules for the deductions differ here by county. No idea how it works in Indiana but hoped the link might help.

Good Luck !!!
 

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