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Property tax glossary

Plain definitions of the terms that decide property tax appeals in California, Georgia, and Florida.

TRIM NoticeA TRIM notice, short for Truth in Millage, is the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes that Florida property appraisers mail to every owner each August, showing the property's just value, assessed value, exemptions, and each taxing authority's proposed rates. Millage RateA millage rate is the tax rate applied to a property's taxable value, expressed in mills, where one mill equals one dollar of tax for every one thousand dollars of value. Assessment RatioAn assessment ratio is the percentage of a property's market value that a state uses as the assessed value for tax purposes, such as Georgia's 40% ratio set by O.C.G.A. 48-5-7. Board of EqualizationA board of equalization is the citizen panel that hears property tax assessment appeals in Georgia, with the authority under O.C.G.A. 48-5-311 to increase, decrease, or leave unchanged the value under appeal. Proposition 8 (Decline in Value)Proposition 8 is the California rule, codified in Revenue and Taxation Code section 51, that requires a county to enroll the lower of a property's Proposition 13 factored base year value or its market value on the January 1 lien date. 299(c) FreezeThe 299(c) freeze is Georgia's rule, under O.C.G.A. 48-5-299(c), that a property value established through the appeal process is generally held for the next two tax years, giving the owner three years of valuation certainty in total. Just ValueJust value is Florida's statutory term for the market value a county property appraiser assigns to a property each January 1, before any caps or exemptions are applied.