As many who have received their tax bills can already attest, paying property taxes over the next two years won’t be as much of a burden for residents in Tipton County.
Due to a calculation error by the state regarding how much Local Option Income Tax revenue would be distributed, taxpayers will receive an additional distribution of $754,000 over the next two years. That means many tax bills are being cut in half, Tipton County Auditor Gregg Townsend said.
In 2013, the state was expected to distribute $823,000 to the county for the LOIT, but only calculated one month’s figures instead of a full annual figure for distribution. As a result, the county was only able to distribute $68,000 of LOIT on the 2013 tax bills.
“That’s money that has already been collected from people’s income tax and it’s now being applied to their [property] taxes,” Townsend said.
On average, a home in Tipton County with an assessed value of $75,000 with homestead credit, supplemental homestead credit and a mortgage will pay $192 in property taxes this year, compared to $435 in 2013.
In addition, the state’s Department of Local Government Finance reduced its tax levies for capital projects to zero for both of the county’s school districts, Tipton Community School Corporation and Tri-Central Community Schools, resulting in lower tax bills across the board.
“It’s not a normal tax year because of those anomalies,” Townsend said. “Once those are filtered through the system, 2016 should be a normal tax season.”
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