Why are Nebraskans indifferent to high property taxes? (Omaha, York: low crime, houses)

[ehenningsen]

Originally Posted by MattDen

I know Omaha had a "booming economy" in the early 1990's, but like Detroit those days are long gone. I guess after looking at the numbers the good thing about Omaha's job growth is at least about equal to the population growth. Omaha job growth between December 2005-2006 was 1.4 percent according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. 1.4% is decent, but hardly a booming economy. However, I am sure those sitting in Omaha corperate board rooms consider it a booming economy, but they are obviously not stepping up on the hiring process as those job numbers indicate.

Omaha area ranks very high on dividens per-capita but that mainly goes to all the old money that sits on corperate boards in Omaha. So that is more then likely what causes per-capita income to be higher then the national average as you said earlier.

For the average Joe=wage per job, The average wage is that 36,000 dollars per job in the Omaha CSA as opposed to 40,000 dollars which is the national average.

Link to the per job wage numbers: www.bea.gov/bea/regional/reis/
go to: local area personal income
then: select ca-34 (average wage per job for 2005)

What what a pile of dog ****e... I've never heard such biased garbage...

[star_gazer]

I guess low unemployment and cost of living reign relatively supreme in the estimation of some... such as Forbe's consideration in their Best Cities for Jobs rank... just released...

http://204.26.90.252/eomaha/forbesjobs.jpg (broken link)


Let's see... MattDen? Forbes? ... MattDen? Forbes?? I think we'll go with Forbes.

Full article: http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/15/bes...ml&partner=rss

[canada wry]

Haha. Great schools?? Where? Maybe in the outlying parts of Nebraska. OPS stinks. And, sadly, they outright refuse to hire older teachers of color...a matter for another discussion. There is absolutely no justification for the high property taxes in inner city Omaha. The entire infrastructure is crumbling and has been for years. Take a look at the streets with no curbs and all the crumbling sidewalks-- so that pedestrians are forced to walk in the streets-- and let's not even talk about some of the shabby little houses. A property owning Omahan receives virtually no services for his/her property tax dollar.

I tried to organize a property tax protest a few years ago, subsequent to receiving a bill which effectively increased my tax bill by some 110% and some racist excuse was given by the tax assessor-- something about everyone being required to pay his/her "fair share." Hahaha-- fair share? Until I see my fair share of a job, and know that I am going to be given "fair" consideration in all the applications I submit for employment-- later for that garbage.

Sorry, my short reply has turned into a rant.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by canada wry

Haha. Great schools?? Where? Maybe in the outlying parts of Nebraska. OPS stinks. And, sadly, they outright refuse to hire older teachers of color...a matter for another discussion. There is absolutely no justification for the high property taxes in inner city Omaha. The entire infrastructure is crumbling and has been for years. Take a look at the streets with no curbs and all the crumbling sidewalks-- so that pedestrians are forced to walk in the streets-- and let's not even talk about some of the shabby little houses. A property owning Omahan receives virtually no services for his/her property tax dollar.

I tried to organize a property tax protest a few years ago, subsequent to receiving a bill which effectively increased my tax bill by some 110% and some racist excuse was given by the tax assessor-- something about everyone being required to pay his/her "fair share." Hahaha-- fair share? Until I see my fair share of a job, and know that I am going to be given "fair" consideration in all the applications I submit for employment-- later for that garbage.

Sorry, my short reply has turned into a rant.

Sorry, but your short reply didn't turn into a rant. The truth is, you're just using this forum as a microphone for your own flagrant racism.

Heads up here, Reverend Sharpton/Senator Chambers, your racist underwear is showing!

[SCGranny]

Well, when we got our property assessments here this year,e veryone was grumbling at how much it had gone up. So I did what I was used to doing - I got the paperwork from the courthouse, filled it out, took pictures and gave multiple examples in several pages of attachments to prove my points about the assessment of not only my own property but the referenced area - and at the hearing, got my tax assessment lowered by thousands of dollars. Even though I encouraged some of my grumbling neighbors to do the same, no one did.

Taxes here on property are lower than what I am used to back east, but I just naturally have to protest them. Point is that you have to do it the right way. Ranting and raving about it does no good - you have to have proof and take the time to do research and present it in a reasonable and forthright manner. Like with elections - if you don't take the time to research candidates and make an informed vote at every single one, then you really don't have the right to complain...

[IsThisOneTaken?]

Wow, nothing like resurrecting a 2.5 year old thread!

[WCM]

I have a brother-in-law who lives in one of those "low property tax" states. However, in addition to his taxes, he also is asked to pay about $2,000 a year in addition for fire protection services... That's not the case everywhere, but in NE, fire protection generally is included in a city's tax levy... So we always can't just compare tax levies, we need to see what the total cost is...

[Garthur]

Whenever I hear that they are raising my property taxes I do the work to document and then to protest the increase. The property taxes here are really bad. Every year, I have to come up with $3800 just for taxes on my house. I would buy a new car except for property and sales tax on a new car. The last time a purchased a new car, (2005) all together it cost me about $3000 to put plates on it. So now I just drive old cars and trucks.

If I had just one more reason to move out of the state I would!

[TrevorAlan]

We don't really LIKE our high property taxes, but we live with it all things considered. We have lower population than some of those other states, don't want to have gambling in every other establishment like South Dakota, but we like decent state and city services and they are well run unlike some states. That takes taxes and a little higher considering our smaller population base.

That said I DO know people who move to other states citing taxes. Now whether this is short term thinking and they run into higher cost of living in other ways I don't know. But in general taxes are part of a balance we have struck. We grumble about it but don't overthrow it because we can't don't want our way of life to erode.

[IsThisOneTaken?]

Originally Posted by IsThisOneTaken?

Wow, nothing like resurrecting a 2.5 year old thread!

And bringing it back up another three and a half years later...



A better measure of tax burden calculates property tax, income tax, and others. Kind of like the tables these folks put together:

Tax Institute - Home