When you buy a home, you're buying into a community. That means paying property tax to help better that community. Property taxes help cover the bill for things like schools, police and fire departments, road repairs, and libraries. Necessary stuff, for sure. But though they pay for things we need, taxes are never popular. And now, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, they've risen. In fact, according to ATTOM's analysis of taxes on 89.4 million single-family homes across the country, the average tax increased 4.1 percent last year, after going up 3 percent the previous year. Rob Barber, ATTOM's CEO, says the increase was likely connected to inflation. “The tax increases were likely connected, at least in part, to inflationary pressures on the cost of operating local governments and schools, along with rising public employee wages and other major expenses,” Barber said. But while property tax is up nationally, it varies from location to location. For example, Illinois has an effective rate of 1.88 percent, the highest in the nation, while Hawaii's effective property tax rate is just 0.31 percent.
