How are the taxes on my property determined?

How are the taxes on my property determined?

Property taxes are budget driven. This means that all property values could stay stagnant, but property taxes can fluctuate annually based on budgets changing.

Property taxes are the principal source of income for cities, counties and special-purpose districts like fire, schools, library, cemetery and other districts. The county Treasurer sends and collects the tax, then distributes it to these local districts. At the assessor's office, our job is to ensure all property in the county has a fair & equitable market value placed on the assessment roll to ensure the property tax burden is equally distributed among all tax payers. 

Idaho Code 63-205, requires the assessor to assess property values at current market value of the county as of January 1st each year.

Determining Levy Rates

  • Each tax district determines its budget at a public hearing. See Idaho Code 63-803
  • Each parcel is assessed by mass appraisal techniques to determine their fair market value
  • Homeowners (and other) exemptions are subtracted from the gross value
  • The total budget dollars requested by each district is divided by the total taxable value in the areas they serve

Taxing District Levy Example

Budget Request divided by taxable property value equals tax rate (levy). 

Example: If a district requests $9,500,000 from $5,495,800,420 in property value, the levy rate is 0.001728

  • $9,500,000 / $5,495,800,420 = 0.001728

Properties are generally served by more than one taxing district.  Therefore all the taxing districts serving your property are added together. Geographical areas in each county having a common group of taxing districts, is called a Tax Code Area.

Example:  The levy for a Tax Code Area is shown below, and levies for taxing districts serving your property are added together:

  • County                                                                                                                          .002755643
  • School                                                                                                                           .004658773
  • City                                                                                                                                 .006600852
  • Special Dist. (highways, EMS, cemetery, etc.)                                              .001167393
  • Total                                                                                                                               .015182661

The total of these levies is multiplied by your taxable value to determine your tax:

                                     Levy = .015182661 = 1.5182661%

  • House Value:                                                                                                                 $220,000
  • Lot Value:                                                                                                                            40,000
  • Total Value:                                                                                                                    $260,000
  • Minus Home Owner Exemption (HOE):                                                              (125,000)
  • Total Minus HOE:                                                                                                         $135,000
               
  • TOTAL TAXABLE VALUE:                                                                                            $135,000
                                        $135,000 X 1.5182661% = $2,049.66 tax|
                                                              Effective tax levy
                                           $2,049.66     /    $260,000    =   0.79%

The collection of unpaid balances owed to certain agencies may be added to your property tax bill. 

The County only has budgeting authority over County departments.  City, school, fire, cemetery, and etc. are their own taxing entity and have authority over their own budgets.  If you have questions regarding an amount charged by a certain taxing district on your property tax bill, please contact that agency. 

For questions regarding your tax bill in general, please contact the treasurer’s office at 208-745-9219.

See Idaho Code 50-1008


Show All Answers

1. What is an occupancy tax?
2. Can I see a map of my property?
3. How are the taxes on my property determined?
4. What does the category on my assessment notice mean?
5. How does the Assessor determine the value on my property?
6. If my assessed home values drop, will my property taxes do the same?
7. What is the Homeowner's Property Tax Exemption?
8. Is there a program that can help with paying my property taxes?