In Michigan, property taxes are public. Both of my parents were elected to township treasurer positions...first Ma for a number of years...and then the Old Man when she passed from cancer (melanoma if it matters)...and Ma'd tell stories of folk who visited the township office wanting to know what so-and-so pays... that blankety blank what works for the power company, yeah, him, what does he pay in taxes? I don't know why property taxes are public...could have something to do with the purchase of a home or property and a desire to know what the property taxes are...if one can afford the taxes...before one signs on the dotted line. My wife's uncle was elected to another township treasurer position, this after years of working in the...welfare office....where records are not public or not as much if at all...and initially, when people visited the office to inquire about what others paid in property taxes, he was disinclined to tell them, to make that known...until he was informed that property taxes are indeed public information. One could use the public information about property taxes to compare and contrast one's own tax liability and make an argument to the Board of Review in the spring...doesn't mean it works...just that it can be done. Paid 6-grand for the house we're in now and it wasn't worth it and I'd never do it again...I'd find a piece of land and build there...but based on what was paid for the property my argument for lower taxes was successful at the only Board of Review I visited. I'd paid less than the assessed taxable value so my argument for lower taxes worked...though they did not lower it to reflect what I paid. There are people who equate lower property values with Philistines but I'm not one of them. Or is it Assyrians?
