//Millage Rate: Do You Understand It?

Millage Rate: Do You Understand It?

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By Jonathan Frazier

LOWNDES CO., Ga. – With elections coming up its important to know what you are casting your ballot to support.

Tax liabilities, value assessors, homestead exemptions, itemized deductions— just picking the right property tax form and filling it out is enough to make any property owner cry! The world would be much simpler if everyone owned nice things and didn’t worry about taxes, but life’s not that easy. However, understanding the millage rate for your valuable properties can be.

If “define millage rate” is typed in a search bar, Google will tell you that millage rates are tax rates used to calculate local property taxes. Personally, I had to read that a few times to understand it. In simple terms, millage rate is how much the county charges you for owning things like houses, cars, or even timber. So how is millage calculated? The Tax Foundation explains this way:

“Millage,” or “mill rate,” is a term some states and localities use to calculate property tax liability. Property tax itself is sometimes referred to as “millage tax.” A mill is one one-thousandth of a dollar, and in property tax terms is equal to $1.00 of tax for each $1,000 of assessment. 29 mills, therefore, is equal to $29 for every $1,000 of assessed value, or 2.9%. The tax liability can also be calculated by multiplying the taxable value of the property by the mill rate and then dividing by 1,000.

Tax Foundation

Though this explanation is concise, not everyone is mathematically minded. Think of the “mill” as gas price and your “property’s value” as gallons of gas. The more gallons of gas you get directly affects the price of the gas. Millage is the same way, only the county determines how much you pay. What’s your county’s mill rate? Can you calculate it? Do you like your millage rate? Let me know in the comments below!