Death and Taxes
I was going to write up properties getting the Homestead or Senior Citizen Homestead deduction with owners names that are listed in the Social Security Death Index, but that was too much work. I didn't get past 3 northern Truxton block before I got bored.Instead I'm going to complain about the Senior Citizen Homestead deduction, two dead people and their real estate taxes. I don't get it. One dead person, who has been dead for over 5 years, but who has been dutifully paying their real estate taxes is charged less than my aunt (alive) receiving the same deduction. Both properties have the same square footage, the dead person's house doesn't have AC. Auntie does have AC, one less bedroom and has a bigger yard. However, according to the City, Auntie's house is worth $100K less than the dead person and the difference in taxable assessment is $80K. Even though being dead is worse, Auntie is blind and suffering from dementia.
I said two dead people, one is our dead tax payer. The other is my late Uncle R, husband to blind Auntie.
They are pictured here back when they were young. Sometime in the 1950s they bought a house in SE DC, and lived there. In the 1990s Uncle R died. Currently Auntie is listed as the owner and it is a logical assumption that previously the house was in Uncle R.'s name, if not both their names. Did that transfer or change in name bump up the taxable amount? Even thought my aunt has been living in the house for nearly 1/2 a century? As far as I can tell dead person in Truxton was there from the 1940s or sometime after the 1930 census.I can't see why my demented blind widowed aunt pays more in real estate taxes than a dead person for a house worth less.
Labels: real estate, taxes
posted by Mari @ 15.4.09
4 Comments:
Great picture. You definitely favor your aunt.
Thanks but the woman is my aunt by marriage. Uncle R, the handsome man pictured, is my grandfather's brother. Uncle R was my favorite uncle, and a favorite for my mom and her siblings (the other aunties I have in the metro area). He was charming, tall and sharp. He worked as mailman in DC sometime after the war, but I only knew him as a retired mailman who always had ice cream in the basement.
I figured that it was possible that I would look dumb making that comment because your uncle could be your blood relative, but you really do look like your non-blood related aunt. Enough that I felt comfortable assuming she was your blood relative. Oh well, just another example of my less than astute powers of observation.
Sometimes a gamble brings in the bucks, sometimes it just makes you a dollar short. It happens. Gender makes it difficult to tell what are the common traits. I think we have the same eyebrows, but not sure because at the end of his life he had those bushy 'old man' eyebrows.
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