Today’s question comes via Twitter on back of my story earlier this week showing all South Florida counties are among the highest taxed in the state with Miami-Dade being the highest overall.
About property Taxes in Miami-Dade. Don't Public Schools take about 90% of the tax?
Bottom Line:The answer isn’t going to be near 90%, but it’s a lot. It also depends on where you live within a given county. Miami-Dade has eight different agencies authorized to levy property taxes, so there’s a lot of money moving in different directions from your property taxes.
Earlier this week I mentioned that Broward and Palm Beach Counties have average property tax rates that are 51% higher than the state average and Miami-Dade's is 57% higher. Something I always recommend that you do when you get your annual property assessed value statement is to look at all the different places your property tax money is going and how much you’re paying. Most people who do and report back to me are surprised.
I’ll use mine as an example.
I’m paying property tax to 13 ad valorem taxing authorities and three non-ad valorem taxing interests. That’s a lot of money going in many different directions. Education is the biggest overall category at about 35% of my bill. Statewide the average of property taxes going to education is 40%-45% . The rest of the education funding comes through the federal government and state lottery programs.
Knowing where your property tax money is going is helpful, for any number of reasons, but especially during election cycles when bond questions come up.
Here are the links to the property appraiser’s offices in each county to look up your taxes.
Broward: http://www.bcpa.net/
Miami-Dade: https://www.miamidade.gov/pa/tax.html
Palm Beach: https://www.pbcgov.com/papa/
Submit your question by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
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