in light of the current real estate market and recent property tax assessments on bainbridge island i have received a number of inquiries from bainbridge island property owners trying to reconcile the relationships among recent sales prices, current market value, recent assessed value, and current property tax.  following are links to six pdf files that combine to serve as a good primer on how property tax works in washington state.  the source for the first attachment is the thurston county assessor web site, for the second and third the washington state department of revenue web site, and for the fourth, fifth, and sixth the kitsap county assessor web site.  while the first attachment is specific to thurston county, the examples are generally applicable to all counties in washington state.  i hope you all find this helpful or at least interesting.  as always, please feel free to forward it to anyone else who you think may have an interest.

the six individual pdf file links are accessible on my web site via the following link: scroll to the bottom of the page and click on a line of text, each of which is an individual link.

http://bainbridgeislandferrytails.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&page=48792

alternatively, links directly to each individual pdf file follow:

how washington state property tax works: http://bainbridgeislandferrytails.com/docs/how%20washington%20state%20property%20tax%20works.pdf

washington state property tax frequently asked questions: http://bainbridgeislandferrytails.com/docs/washington%20state%20property%20tax%20frequently%20asked%20questions.pdf

appealing your washington state property tax: http://bainbridgeislandferrytails.com/docs/appealing%20your%20washington%20state%20property%20tax.pdf

kitsap county assessor from the assessor: http://bainbridgeislandferrytails.com/docs/Kitsap%20County%20Assessor%20-%20From%20the%20Assessor.pdf

kitsap county assessor frequently asked questions: http://bainbridgeislandferrytails.com/docs/Kitsap%20County%20Assessor%20-%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.pdf