Start by copying
the indicated values to the spreadsheet from your SDAT data sheet and your
property tax bill. Any values that are
not listed on your tax bill should be entered as 0 (zero). Note that the
Assessment Homestead Credit is the negative integer on the tax bill that
appears in the ASSESSMENT column to the right of each homestead credit. If your
2005 tax bill does not contain any homestead credits, then the Assessment
Homestead Credit should be entered as 0 (zero).
IMPORTANT: Credits must be entered as negative numbers, just as shown on
the tax bill. Invalid input will produce invalid results. It is especially
important to carefully enter data into the online version of the spreadsheet
because it performs only minimal data validation.
1.
To see the effect of various tax rates,
start by setting all 2006 tax rate values the same as the corresponding 2005
value. This gives a baseline comparison showing the effect of the increase in
assessed property value without any change in the tax rates. It is useful to print the spreadsheet at this
point.
2.
Adjust the values in the tax rate
fields to see the effects of various tax rates and tax credits on your
taxes.
3.
Gradually reduce the county tax rate
until the Projected increase in tax from
2005 to 2006 begins to decline. Continue reducing the tax rate until the Projected increase in tax from 2005 to 2006
percentage value is reduced to a value that is similar to the inflation rate
(about 4%). At that tax rate, your taxes will, on the average, have increased
at the same rate as other goods and services, so this might be considered to be
a “fair” tax rate.
4.
If you live in a municipality, check
your municipality’s web site or call your municipality’s tax office to find out
if they will be changing the tax rate for 2006. You can then specify the new
rate for your municipality to see the effect (if any) on your taxes. (One
municipality, Kensington, has changed their homestead tap cap to 5%. The
spreadsheet takes the Kensington homestead cap into account where appropriate.)
5.
It is useful to set the State property tax rate to .112, which
is the rate that Gov. Ehrlich has proposed for 2006.
6.
Try setting the 2006 county tax rate
identical to the 2005 rates, and then adjust the
To express your concerns about
property taxes to our elected representatives, you can email them at:
The spreadsheet is
designed to show the effect of tax rate and tax credit changes on properties
that did NOT change ownership during 2005 and 2006. If the property being analyzed changed
ownership during 2005 or 2006, the homestead credit may not apply and
additional property tax rules may apply that are not necessarily handled by the
spreadsheet. Unusual credits, such as
the "circuit breaker" tax credit, are not handled by the spreadsheet
because they require input data that is unique to the individual taxpayer (such
as personal income information).