Reducing Property Taxes

[jeffrey]

Local governments are strapped for cash and they've decided home owners should pick up the slack. Collections from property taxes are up 20 percent in the past three years ended in 2003. But you can fight town hall. Here are today's five tips.

Knowledge is power. There are two ways town hall can make you pay more. Your local government can raise the "millage" rate, the number that represents how much you'll owe per thousand dollars of property value. Or they can reassess your property. An assessment is simply the act of placing a value on your home. There's not much you can do to change the millage rate (short of starting a political movement), but you can fight city hall over an assessment... [read more at money.cnn.com]