Does one have to pay property tax on bomb shelters?

Of course. It’s developed property and adds to your square footage. Just like a family room or a bedroom, but with thicker walls.

Why would you think otherwise?

@elbanditoroso It would defeat the purpose of going off grid if you had to stay connected. That sucks.

You have to have a permit to build it, so I’m sure they’re going to be adding it to your property tax as well.

Everybody is talking about going off grid, but I don’t see any government allowing that. Why do you think that they’ve built a web of ways to track us??? Even when your cell is turned off with the battery removed, they can still ping you!!!

You can save money by living without electricity or plumbing. You are still taking up real estate and should pay taxes on it.

Certain criteria have to be met before you can call it square footage. For example, I have a dirt cellar that my 6’4” s on can’t even stand up all the way in. That is not included in the 1800 sq feet of the house. An unfinished base doesn’t add to the square footage. And since sometime in the 80s, after 5 family members in Wichita, all kids, died in a fire because they could get out of the basement, you have to have egress windows in the basement.
And you can’t legally call it a bedroom unless it has a closet. An extra room does add to the square footage tho.

The point of building a bomb shelter isn’t to go “off-grid”. It’s to (hopefully) survive a nuclear war and the aftermath. In that event your tax burden would be something of moot point, but until such an event yes, you’ll still have to pay property taxes.

Some enclosures, like a carport, don’t need a building permit here in this area if they aren’t attached to the main dwelling.

If it adds value to your home it will affect your property tax. PT is based on your home’s market value which is reduced to taxable value and then the millage applied.

@LadyMarissa “Even when your cell is turned off with the battery removed, they can still ping you!!!” They can get probably the location you were at when you did that, but if you did it then traveled a few hundred miles away your phone would be useless in tracking you…unless they’ve added some weird bug into the phone that tracks regardless but that is supposed to be illegal

I would imagine if it was underground you would need a permit and you’d have to pay?

Oddly, the first google hit I get for “property tax bomb shelter” is a reduction in taxes for having a shelter. Two families in New York City were receiving the exemption in 2012, saving $145/year between them.

NY Times – A Profitable Vestige of Cold War precaution – ”...They are one of the few remaining beneficiaries of a bill passed by the state’s Legislature in 1961 that provides exemptions for shelters designed “in accordance with plans, regulations and orders of the State Civil Defense Commission.”

@LadyMarissa “Even when your cell is turned off with the battery removed, they can still ping you!!!” Uh. No. They can’t. The phone is just a useless bit of plastic at that point.