Do you know what a mill is? Do you know how many mills of real estate taxes you pay to Palmer Township, Northampton County, and the Easton Area School District. Do you know how the assessed value of your house and the millage rates are used to compute your taxes? Everyone pays real estate taxes if they own a property, but most people don't understand how their taxes are computed or how all this jargon about millage and assessed value translates to dollars. Well, read on and hopefully all your questions will be answered.
The word mill means a money amount equal to 1/10 of one cent. One mill is represented in decimal form as .001. Each year the three taxing authorities, the township, the county, and the school district establish the millage rate for the upcoming year. Currently the rates are: Palmer Township - 6.25 mills (.00625), Northampton County - 10.8 mills (.0108), and Easton Area School District - 53.247 (.053247).
2011
Palmer Township Residents' Tax Millage and Taxes
for a $100,000 Assessed Property
Your property values are determined by Northampton County and the assessed value is 50% of the county determined market value. That assessed value is multiplied by the millage rates noted above to determine the amount of tax you owe on your property. The chart below shows the values of three properties, what the assessed value is for each of those properties and the taxes you would pay to each of the three taxing jurisdictions.
Property Value |
Assessed Value |
EASD (53.247 mills) |
County (10.8 mills) |
Palmer (6.25 mills) |
$300,000 |
$150,000 |
$7,987 |
$1,620 |
$938 |
$200,000 |
$100,000 |
$5,325 |
$1,080 |
$625 |
$100,000 |
$50,000 |
$2,662 |
$540 |
$313 |
Okay, now that you understand all the figures, below are some of the services provided for your township tax dollars:
Public Works Administration
|
Parks Department Planning Department Recreation Programs |
Police Department Palmer Township Municipal Volunteer Fire Department Zoning & Code Department |