Keep your property taxes down

There are two ways town hall can make you pay more. Your local government can raise the "millage" rate, the number that represents how much you'll owe per thousand dollars of property value. Or they can reassess your property. An assessment is simply the act of placing a value on your home.

There's not much you can do to change the millage rate (short of starting a political movement), but you can fight city hall over an assessment.

"What homeowners often don't know or realize is that this process is a subjective one." says Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union. "Essentially, your assessment is one person's opinion about the value of your house."

There may be mistakes, miscalculations or assumptions made by an assessor that cost you money in taxes. Given the fact that assessments can be done from the public right of way, it's no surprise there can be errors. Imagine trying to figure out the value of a home from the street corner.

Sepp says according to figures he's seen, 30 to 60 percent of properties in the U.S. may be over-assessed. If you're like many people with mortgages, you may have your property taxes automatically escrowed, so you're less likely to notice or question changes.

Most homeowners don't even realize they have the right to see their assessment reports -- much less appeal them. If you decide to appeal, chances are pretty good you'll win. Roughly half of the people who take their complaint all the way to an appeals court win some sort of relief.