Tax Bills Slam Hurricane Victims On Gulf Coast

Alabama Coast Residents Slammed by Post-Hurricane Ivan Property Tax Increases

MOBILE, Ala. -- The Mobile Register reported Tuesday that land owners along Alabama's Gulf coast are still getting hit more than a year after Ivan blew away their homes: A post-hurricane real estate boom combined with quirks in the tax law led to sharp increases in tax bills for personal real estate where, in many cases, houses no longer exist.

As coastal property prices have climbed dramatically after Hurricane Katrina, property taxes have also risen. Add to that the fact that, while private residences are assessed at 10 percent of their appraised value (the rate applies both to homes before the storm and to piles of rubble left on private land after Ivan passed), commercial or undeveloped property -- including land recently cleared of wrecked homes -- is assessed at 20 percent. That means tax rates are twice as high for people who cleared debris from their land but still haven't rebuilt.

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Alabama Gulf Coast Tension: 70
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Topics: News, Current Events, Gulf Coast, Mobile Alabama, Hurricane, economics

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