If you own a home in Greenville county, then you recently paid property taxes, so this subject is probably still fresh on your mind. Especially if your taxes went up or down from last year, you might be wondering, “How does Greenville county assess taxes?” The corollary to that question is probably, “Am I paying too much in property taxes?" To answer these questions, we’re going to have to play with some numbers and math, so step into your school-brain, and we’ll dive in.
There are a couple pieces to the property tax puzzle:
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The assessed value of the property.
*And whether your property is an owner-occupied residence or not.
The local mill rate.
Other expenses.
We’ll take these one by one:
Assessed Value. The assessed value of your home is different than the market value. Assessed value is a percentage of the market value. Every 5 years, local assessors appraise the homes in their district to determine the assessed value. Reassessment is supposed to help reallocate the tax burden as property values change over time.
Assessment Rate. SC assesses taxes at a 4% rate for owner-occupied homes and at a 6% rate for other properties. What this means is that, if the market/appraisal value of your property is $180,000, the assessed value is $7,200, if you live in the home as your primary residence, and $10,800, if you use the property as a rental or vacation home or something else.
The mill rate. In tax terms, a mill is one thousandth of a dollar or $1 in taxes per $1000 of property value. Each county has a base millage rate. Multiply the assessed value and the millage rate, and the product should be fairly close to your total property tax.
Other expenses. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as just the first two pieces. There are other fees associated with your property taxes, depending on exactly where you live. Taylors, for example, adds a sewer tax, while other districts add water, fire protection services, or light maintenance taxes. These fees show up on your tax bill. If you want to look up the fees associated with your particular district, you can look those up at either sccounties.org or greenvillecounty.org.
No one loves taxes, but we’ll end on a cheerful note by sharing that South Carolina has some of the lowest property tax rates in the United States (along with Hawaii, Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia). So, if you’re considering a move, think SC, and if you’re already an SC resident, we hope this post gives you more reasons to love living in the Palmetto State!