ARKANSAS, USA — Tax season is in full swing and Arkansans are facing a surprisingly high personal tax increase. Experts are estimating a minimum 20% increase this season, impacting taxes as well as property values.
This all stems from the coronavirus pandemic, especially because it impacted the supply chain in the auto industry. With fewer new vehicles readily available, the value appreciated and so did taxes.
“What happened this year was really something we have not seen in the past that almost every vehicle increased in value from year to year," said Scott Hardin with the Arkansas Department of Finances. "Have we ever seen it just across the board where any every vehicle is increasing in value? Due to the shortage of vehicles and the computer chip issue, all of this comes together to see cars increasing in value and trucks across the board."
Many Arkansans say when they got their 2021 assessment, they were confused about how much their property increased.
Brenda Shaffer says she owns multiple cars, a four-wheeler and a boat. This upcoming tax season she’ll have to save more to make those payments on the personal property tax.
“And it just doesn’t seem quite right, especially, after you’ve already paid your sales taxes on it. People are having a hard enough time this day and age making ends meet,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer says overall she’s seen a 20% increase.
She’s not alone, another viewer, who’d rather go unnamed, sent 5NEWS an email about how much their property value went up. He says his increase was 24% more than the previous year, that value increase was on a 12-year-old car. He adds that he’s on a fixed income making it more difficult to make ends meet.
Experts add that Arkansans are experiencing sticker shock because of the overwhelmingly high increase. Washington County Assessor, Russell Hill says this shock shouldn’t last much longer as the pandemic seems to look to end soon.
“It hopefully, once we get through the pandemic, we get through the supply chain issues and everything starts to stabilize and we start to see things go back down, hopefully, next year we’ll have a different story,” Hill said.
Hill says if you do think a mistake was made there are three ways to address that issue in Washington County. You can visit the Scout Assessor website, call (479)-444-1520 or visit your nearest Washington County DMV.
Be sure to get your personal property assessed before May 31 to avoid a 10% penalty late fee.
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