How are property taxes / assessed values determined in your state

[Stephanie Medellin]

I would like to learn more about how property taxes are determined in different parts of the country, and which states or regions have the most attractive property tax rates.

I'll start it off by saying that I think California's system of reassessment upon change of ownership is fantastic.  There are no surprises when you buy and it's very easy to determine what your taxes will be in the future.  It rewards long term property ownership and ensures that seniors will not be taxed out of their homes.

On the other hand, New York state has exorbitant tax rates, where a $120,000 property can have taxes of $7,000 or $8,000.  It's truly unbelieveable, and even on the same street taxes are not consisent.  Values are not reassessed upon change of ownership, but every so many years the whole city is reassessed.  So a building can be neglected for 10 years, sell for $15,000, and still be at the same 90K - 120K assessment with taxes around $7,000 / year.  These high taxes provide no incentive to buy the property cheap, because it's going to take a lot of time and money to fix the years of neglect, and there is no repreive from paying taxes during this time (obviously).

So I'd really like some insight from investors in other areas - who has the fairest property taxes and why?