Property tax is how the county collects money to fund things like schools, public safety, garbage service, and county operations. It’s based on your property’s assessed value, and the county sets a tax rate every year to determine how much is owed.

Here’s how it works in Meigs County for the 2025–2026 budget year:

On the chart above you will notice that the "Net Estimated Collection of Taxes" is different than the "Amount of Tax Levy". Not everyone pays their taxes on time or at all, so the county assumes about 3% won’t be collected (that’s called a “reserve for delinquency”).

In Tennessee, you don’t pay taxes on your full property value. You pay on a portion of it:

• Residential property: taxed on 25% of its appraised value

• Commercial/Industrial property: taxed on 40%

• Personal property (business equipment, etc.): taxed on 30%

• Public utilities: taxed on 55%

This is a statewide system, and the same rules apply in all 95 counties.

In Meigs County, when we say the tax rate is $1.6885 for every $100 of assessed value, that’s important because for a residential home, only 25% of the home's appraised value is actually taxed, meaning you're not paying that rate on the full market value of your property.

• You pay based on your property’s assessed value, for most homes assessed value equals 25% of value

• The county rate is $1.6885 per $100 of that assessed value

• Each penny of that rate brings in about $33,000 after estimating non-payment

• All that adds up to roughly $5.4 million in expected county property tax revenue