Viewpoint:? Colorado Property and Sales Tax are Reasonable Compared to Our Neighbors-Really

? ???There has been much made of property tax rates, relief from property taxes, can we take your TABOR money instead of property taxes, and what can we do about property taxes in the real media and on social media.

?? The numbers I am using in this Viewpoint come from a website called taxrates.org . The site lists average tax rates in all 50 states and also has the county-by -county rates. The numbers presented are listed as for 2023.

?? ?Property taxes are collected on a county level, and each county in Colorado has its own method of assessing and collecting taxes. As a result, it's not possible to provide a single property tax rate that applies uniformly to all properties in Colorado.

?? If you own a home worth $237,800 in Costilla County your property tax will be $317 per year. If you owned that very same home in Douglas County you would pay $2,590 per year. That’s 717% higher on the same home in Douglas County over Costilla County.

?? In Pueblo County your property taxes on that home are $998. In Huerfano County you would pay $614 on that home. El Paso County (Colorado Springs), $1017. Custer County (Westcliffe), $796.

?? ?The average for that property throughout the state is $1,437 per year which is an average of 0.6% of the property’s assessed fair market value as property tax per year.

?? ?Colorado is ranked 39th of the fifty states, in order of the average amount of property taxes collected.

?? Remember that .6% which means you pay $1,437 of property tax on that $237,800 house? Well, if you owned that same value of house in New Jersey you would pay 1.89% in property taxes or $4,494. New Jersey has the highest property tax rate in the United States.

?? Here are a few other states of interest. Our neighbor Nebraska? There you would pay 1.76% or $4,185 on that house. Nebraska is the 4th highest in the United States. In North Dakota (#10) you would pay $3,376 which is 1.42%.

?? Kansas is the 15th highest with a property tax rate of 1.29%, or $3,067 using our example. Keeping in mind the national high rate in New Jersey you might be surprised at the 1.23% rate in New York which comes to $2,924 per year.

?? Florida is #22 and is the first state in which property tax is less than 1%. They come in at .97%, so the house in question would cost you $2,306. Again, please remember, these are averages for each state. Like Colorado the actual amount is determined county by county.

?? Even lower than New York is California at 32nd. There rate is .74% and that means you would pay $1,760. Of course, you may not be able to find a house in California valued at $237,800. New Mexico is cheaper than Colorado with a property tax rate of .55%, or $1,307 for the aforementioned house. Hawaii may be expensive in a lot of areas but they are 50th in property taxes at .26% ($618). That is still higher than Louisiana where that $237,800 house would cost you $428 for an entire year of property tax.

?? Colorado’s median income is $71,154.

?? ?According to the folks at taxrates.org , about one in four houses is unfairly over-assessed and an average of $1.346 too much in property taxes every year. If this organization takes a look at your information and believes it is over-assessed, they will help you submit a tax appeal.

?? ?I’m glad I checked this out, though. Even though I feel, like most of you, that we are paying too much, it’s nice to live in the 39th highest property tax state rather than any one of the 38 ahead of it. And while you’re at it, Colorado’s state sales tax rate of 2.9% is one of the lowest in the United States.? Not bad, huh?