 Posted: Sat, Oct 31 2009, 11:55 pm EDT Post subject: New Jersey continues to lead nation in property taxes |
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| New Jersey continues to lead nation in property taxes
By JEAN MIKLE • STAFF WRITER • October 28, 2009 JERSEY — Any way you care to look at it, New Jersey still leads the nation in property taxes. And its really not even a close race. Seven of the top 10 counties in the nation with the highest median property taxes can be found in the Garden State, according to an analysis of new U.S. Census Bureau data by the Washington-based nonprofit Tax Foundation. The highest in the state was Hunterdon County, with a median annual tax payment of $8,347. It was second in the nation only to Westchester County, N.Y., which had a median tax payment of $8,404. The national median property tax was $1,854. The new data looks at 2006 to 2008 and includes U.S. counties with populations of 20,000 or more. The census compiled the data in three-year averages for better accuracy, according to the Tax Foundation. "New Jersey's property taxes are high in every county," said Gerald Prante, a senior economist for the Tax Foundation and author of the property tax report. "Many counties in New York state are high, but it does have some low-tax counties. New Jersey does not." The news is a bit worse for New Jersey taxpayers when household income is taken into account. Property taxes in Passaic and Essex counties took the biggest bite in the nation out of a homeowner's paycheck, more than 8 percent, according to the study. The national average was 2.85 percent. All told, New Jersey had six of the top 10 counties in the nation, when property taxes are computed as a percentage of homeowners' income. Union County was fifth nationwide, with a median property tax bill of $7,058 representing 7.8 percent of average income. Somerset County ranked 13th in the nation, with a median property tax of $7,676, representing 6.8 percent of income. Middlesex County ranked 20th in the nation, with a median property tax bill of $5,940 representing 6.38 percent of average income. Low- and moderate-income homeowners tended to pay a higher proportion of their income in property taxes than high-income homeowners. http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20091028/NEWS/910280368/1003/NEWS01 |
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