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Icefyre79 t1_j0x3128 wrote

Don't forget Prop. 2 ½. That legislation, enacted in 1980, stipulates that tax levy limits can only be increased by 2 ½% each year, barring an override.

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Thisbymaster t1_j0wyam2 wrote

My town voted to lower the tax rate, but that is because of exploding values so the amount is still going up but not as much.

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Parallax34 t1_j0xiph0 wrote

Massachussets municipal finance is governed entirely by a 1980s proposition 2.5. A municipality cannot raise their total levy limit beyond 2.5% YOY without voters approving an override or debt exclusion. For a long time the cost of municipal services have risen much faster than 2.5% and so 2 things tend to happen. Ch70 means a town must fund education at a specified level. So that means a town either continues to cut services like public works, infrastructure ect or they periodically go to voters and ask for overrides. What's more, these overrides compound by raising the base limit that continues to grow 2.5% YOY into the future. Poorer towns tend to suffer under this model more as it can be a much bigger ask to go to voters to raise property taxes than in affluent towns. IMO this is one of the larger sources of inequality in MA government, as it directly and indirectly impacts almost every part of municipal government service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Massachusetts_Proposition_2%C2%BD

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WinsingtonIII t1_j0x005j wrote

With property values being one of the things increasing in Massachusetts I’m not sure that property tax rates will necessarily increase much. Towns can take in more money with the same rates as values increase. You tend to see increasing property tax rates in places where the housing market has crashed and values have dropped. For instance, upstate NY has had big problems with this historically, though I don’t know if COVID changed that.

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Parallax34 t1_j0xgopb wrote

This is not actually how property taxes work in MA. Due to Prop 2.5, property values have no bearing on the property tax revenue a municipality in MA generates. Basicaly a town can collect X revenue based on their historical norms. That amount can be increased by 2.5%/yr. Town assessors asses housing values in the town to provide a weighting for your portion of the property tax revenue vs your neighbors. Ultimately the sum of the property values is divided by the revenue the town will collect and that determines the rate.

If all property values doubled next year a towns property tax rate would automatically get cut in half, or vice versa.

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DunkinRadio t1_j0yl6jt wrote

This. I'm always amused by the "property values are down the last few years, so why aren't I paying less taxes" outrage.

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WinsingtonIII t1_j0yppq3 wrote

My mistake, thanks. Either way, it doesn’t sound like OP’s suggestion that property tax rates are going to increase is accurate given the limitations in place.

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TheGrandExquisitor t1_j1098r8 wrote

Salem had single families go up almost 5% thanks to property value increases.

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