[BroadHopper]

The towns use to take into consideration 'summer residence' and tax accordingly. When the education funding mess came on board the state decided to set the tax rates for all towns in the state. Hence the 'view tax' came to being. A blind farmer near Orford NH saw his property tax increase eight fold because his land has mountain views! He took it to court and lost. He eventually went bankrupt because of taxes and sold the farm.

The state argument is that using the 'fair market value' of the property is the right way to base taxation on. Regardless of land use and residency. In other word, 'Tough ****!'

My family lake front taxes has increased 6 fold in 1997. My Dad and other blue collar workers that have worked so hard all their lives had to 'give up their properties. If you remember real estate dropped like flies about the same time. Many folks lost their life investment to 'greedy' flippers. I know one property on my street sold in 1998 for $300,000 and sold in 2005 for $1.3 million! When the economy sank that property was foreclosed. There was an auction and no bids. The bank is expecting $700,000 for the property. My RE guy says the bank will be lucky to get $500,000.

What is funny is that the town access the property at a certain price. If the property is sold for more than accessed price the selling price is the new accessed cost. But if it is sold for less, the accessed value remains the same until a reassessment.