GIS and the Tax man...invasion of privacy?

Larry · July 12, 2006, 05:06:44 PM

Got acquainted with a fairly advanced GIS in Arkansas. They have high definition aerial photos taken yearly. Put the pictures on the county website with all kinds of layers. You can search by say timber land, pasture, property owners, and all kinds of cool stuff. That info has been available for years....sometimes took a lot of research to find it. I think it is cool.

Today the tax assessor pulls up in the drive on our place in Missouri...gets out of the car and my smart dog puts him back in the car. ;D This county is building there new GIS with a new wrinkle. They are planing to put a picture of your house and all out buildings on their website. So the tax man is here to take pictures...I told him we built our compound 300 yards from the road for several reasons...one of which is privacy. Told him he might want to take his pictures from the road...or meet the smart dog up close and personal. ;) I realize they need to measure and assess buildings for tax...but I think maybe that is all they need to know.

I'm thinking it's getting little to snoopy for me...whata you guys think?

UNCLEBUCK · July 12, 2006, 05:57:35 PM

I agree , I finally had the assesor catch me in broad daylight to have a looksy and I asked so many questions I think she was glad to get in her car and leave . I try to adjust it in my mind by saying that my town has alot of nice projects that my taxes go towards . Jehova lady on saturdays tells me that in Wisconsin her taxes were 3 times that of Minnesota .

My county has a website and it has all those aerial views and even some views that look like a low fly over . Hard to hide thats for sure

Dan_Shade · July 12, 2006, 06:01:21 PM

get google earth and take a look, it will scare you...

Ron Wenrich · July 12, 2006, 06:34:49 PM

The last time the tax assessor was here was when I bought this place back in 1977. Our county doesn't believe in spending the extra dollars for reassessment. The last time they did that was in 1968. Us folks with old houses get off pretty cheap.

They are not allowed inside the house, so they can only go on what you say you have. There are some pretty nice places on the inside that look rundown on the outside. They also don't tax anything below ground. I had a neighbor that tore down his house and barn and built underground.

Right now there is a big stink to do away with property taxes. They want to shift the burden over to a sales tax on a wider basis. That would end up putting most of it on businesses, especially small businesses.

Don_Papenburg · July 12, 2006, 10:22:46 PM

Elimination of property tax would be a very good thing . Infact it should be an amendment to the federal constitution. the wizbang idiots have me paying over 104 dollars an acre on my little farm of 40 acres . The rest of my building will be on skids or wheels.

pigman · July 12, 2006, 10:36:23 PM

Quote[ the wizbang idiots have me paying over 104 dollars an acre on my little farm /quote]
I have to pay almost $4 an acre in property taxes on my farm including my house and barns. Maybe I should not complain too loudly about my property taxes.
Bob

brdmkr · July 12, 2006, 11:50:56 PM

I often deal with hi res imagery in my job. We routinely deal with aerial images with less that 1' spatial resolution. You can buy satelite imagery with less than 1 m spatial resolution. It is amazing what you can make out with high quality images. I really don't know why they'd want a picture of your buildings unless they just want a different angle. Unless you have a mighty dense canopy, they already have a picture from overhead!

WH_Conley · July 13, 2006, 12:39:55 AM

You can eliminate a propety tax , or income tax or any other tax, but you can guarantee it will come back as another tax. :'( :'( :'(

iain · July 13, 2006, 02:15:20 AM

That's one of the proposals for this country
aerial to check on size, also to compare year on year to check for sprucing up, any additions , extra roof light's, improved gardens etc
just so a tax can be tailored to a specific building

i would have thought that coming up to your property, taking pic's and loading to there web site would be a big invasion of privacy, what is the reasoning behind it?

Iain

Norm · July 13, 2006, 07:42:16 AM

The local tax assessor comes out every few years to take pictures and ask to see inside your house. Every few years I ask what part of the no tresspassing sign he doesn't understand.

Last time I got him good, told him my wife had just stepped out of the shower and said we had a peeping tom around. He turned three colors of red and mumbled about assessing something. Told him that was my job. ;D

Onthesauk · July 13, 2006, 11:03:10 AM

I don't know the exact timing, but Seattle use to take pictures of all new houses built in the city and kept with the tax records. Have a nephew and his wife restoring a little home there now and they were able to get a reprint of the picture, taken originally around 1910. Not done any longer.

twoodward15 · July 13, 2006, 01:55:13 PM

Sounds like you're getting a pretty good deal Don!! I pay more than that on a quarter acre!!! I'm about 5K a year now I think.

metalspinner · July 13, 2006, 04:47:29 PM

Our city now is taxing us on rain run-off. Any hard impermiable stucture or driveway that causes rain to run-off rather than seep in is added up. Each resident has a certain square footage allowed, then anything over is "fined" each month on the utility bill. The tax is supposed to be put to work improving storm water drainage systems around town. Right now the end of my driveway gets washed out with any good rainfall. :

Maybe it's time to call the Stormwater Drainage Deptment to get the roadside fixed.