TAXING QUESTIONS

A few oddities about assessed values in Alaska: First, many Alaskan communities aren't first class cities, nor are they part of a borough (our version of counties). In those communities, there are no property taxes. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it, until you realize that most of these places are not connected by road to the rest of the state, and you might be paying $13 for a gallon of milk or orange juice.

Secondly, to my knowledge there are no real estate transfer taxes in Alaska. That means that what you get when you sell or what you pay when you buy real estate is considered no one's business but your own. You'll receive requests from the assessor's office asking what you paid, but you don't have to tell them. This makes the assessor's job tough. If there were a transfer tax, the assessed value could be adjusted to the sales price every time a property changed has. As it is, our deeds say that the property sold for $10 and other good and valuable consideration. Translation: assessors, figure it out for yourselves.

Then there's the matter of not having to let assessors inside your house. Couple that with not needing permits for most places outside municipal rules (large swaths of Fairbanks, for example), and it's pretty tough for assessors to get a good idea of what you've really got. This is why you'll see the occasional tax-obsessed homeowner who refuses to put siding on his $300,000 house. He knows the assessor can't come in to see all his real improvements, and he hopes the weathered plywood or Tyvek exterior will give the illusion of a shack.

Finally, all assessments are done based on data collected the year before, so they're not completely in synch with the market. It's a lot like Enstar raising the price of natural gas by 22% this month. Even though gas prices have dropped, they're working off last years high costs. Likewise, assessors assemble data from the previous year and use it to adjust your taxes for this year.