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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mick Mørmøny who wrote (73029)	3/12/2007 12:17:44 AM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Taxing Rooms With A View In New Hampshire Homeowners Rebel Against A State Tax That Evaluates A Property's Scenery HILL, New Hampshire, March 11, 2007 (CBS) It's no secret that local governments are always trying to locate new sources of revenue. As CBS News correspondent Trish Regan reports, in some places, they're targeting location itself. These days home owners in New Hampshire are discovering just how much their view is worth – in tax dollars. John Chandler owns 40 acres in the small town of Hill, and he says in the last five years his property taxes have jumped 10-fold. "I don't own that view," he says, looking out toward the mountains. "I own the house, I own the yard, but I don't own the view." At issue, views where you can see everything from New Hampshire's Franconia Notch to Mt. Washington. The state says this is worth something, but residents call it a view tax. New Hampshire's David Bischoff built a one room hunting cabin with no power, no water, just an outhouse. And a "200,000 dollar view," he says. Tax assessors say it all started with good intentions – to show the public how property is appraised. Forms were revised to include a separate line that allowed assessors to place a distinct value on a view. But that transparency has sparked a tax revolt led by New Hampshire tree farmer Tom Thompson. "What is a view?" he demanded at one recent public meeting. "Tell me what the definition of a view that assessors in the state of New Hampshire use." The state insists that a view has always, always been part of fair-market value. "There is no separate view tax," Phil Blatsos, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration says. "The view is rolled into the value of the property because it's what people are paying for the property." They say the problem is as simple as this: in recent years, property values have skyrocketed and with higher values come higher taxes. Thompson, for one, doesn't buy it. "It's a gimmick that assessors have come up with to come through the back door and stick their hands deeper in your pockets and extract more tax dollars for the municipalities," he says. "That's what it is, folks." In a state that prides itself on having no income tax and no sales tax, any talk of tax is bound to cause controversy. cbsnews.com © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.