To whom it may concern: This letter is about property and state taxes.
I am not a real smart person, but I am having trouble getting anyone to explain to me what I have to do to FREEZE my property taxes.
I have talked to several people including a “Nicki” at the state Dept. of Revenue trying to understand why my property taxes went up 19.8%. In dollars this is a one year increase of $1792.
What I’ve got out of my the conversations is as clear as mud to me.
I put everything on speaker phone so my phone because my memory is not always the best. My wife of 52+ years said what I’ve got sounded like political double speak.
She is a very intuitive person and I respect her judgement.
I was told the County Treasurer could lift the cloud from my brain and turn the light bulb on for me. I had already been there, but tried again.
My talk with Debbie helped a lot. What I found was I was getting the shaft, because I waited until I was 69 to take social security.
The ability to freeze taxes is based on line 3 of my social security statement. You can’t deduct your meds or anything else.
South Dakota doesn’t tax social security; this is why I moved here from North Dakota, but they tax “everything” else. I tried to prepay for a cremation and was informed I had to pay tax on this. This is a true “death tax”.
When I built my house I paid sales tax on all the building supplies. When the house was done I was with assessed a 2% Excise tax. This tax on tax.
Didn’t we fight the English & King George to get rid of this kind of tax in the Revolutionary War?
Just a few figures: our school taxes went up 33.3%; our County taxes went up 26%; and our City Taxes went up 12%.
I may be forced to sell and move elsewhere. I am 76 years old and this is a real shame.
Raymond Allen
