The Tax Man Cometh

So when I got home this past weekend, there was a card left for me from the Forsyth County Tax Assessor's office, and you know what that means. It's time for them to take new measurements of the house, and I can only imagine what the next bump is going to be in my assessment.

I get it, where taxes are concerned. I feel like I derive a lot of benefits from the services the city and county are providing to me as a resident and member of this community. Seriously: I do get it. It doesn't mean I like that tax bill when it comes. It's the trade-off for having a pretty nice place to live in.

Nonetheless, I'll also tell you it was pretty irritating that my first tax bill on the house showed it had a valuation several thousand dollars more than I'd just paid for it. I think it was elevated because, back then, everybody thought the new Krispy Kreme headquarters would be developed behind the house, as part of something that was going to be called "Unity Place," with the North Carolina School of the Arts as a partner. And a mere seven years after buying the house, the tax bill was based on an assessed value that was 26 percent higher than I'd paid for it back in 2003. I've made some nice improvements in the place, and my regret is that I fear the new valuation will be based on an inflated starting point, rather than what the house--in this neighborhood as it REALLY was when I bought it--should have been valued at.

Yee ha.