Are your taxes supposed to go up?

[Chance Cooper]

When you convert your primary home to a rental property, are the taxes supposed to double? I was paying like 500 a year, now its 1200 a year.

Does this sound right?

[Doug Vigliano]

A homestead exemption is most often only on a fixed monetary amount, such as the first $50,000 of the assessed value. The remainder is taxed at the normal rate. In that case, a home valued at $150,000 would then only be taxed on $100,000; a home valued at $75,000 would be taxed only on $25,000.

The exemption is generally intended to make the property tax a progressive tax. In some places, the exemption is paid for with a local or state (or equivalent unit)sales tax.