Request By:
Mr. Kenneth Barger
Property Valuation Administrator
Breckinridge County
Hardinsburg, Kentucky 40143
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By Alex W. Rose, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to the Attorney General, you present the following factual situation: A taxpayer owns a home which is assessed in March, 1981. During June, 1981 the house burns. The taxpayer asserts that he should not be required to pay 1981 property taxes on that house.
Property is assessed as of January 1 of each year. See KRS 132.220. Taxes are paid on the value of the house on January 1. No provision in the law allows an exemption from payment of the taxes for a house that is subsequently destroyed or allows the taxes to be prorated. If the house is not in existence on January 1, 1982, then there will, of course, be no taxes due on the house for 1982. Because the house was in existence on January 1, 1981, however, the taxpayer must pay the 1981 property taxes.