The 2012 tax rates have been established by Carbon County's 23 municipalities, which finalized their new year budgets in recent weeks, setting the millage rates charged to real estate in the county.

The county's 11 townships and 12 boroughs operate on a fiscal year that runs from January 1 through December 31, as does the county budget, whereas school district budgets are more consistent with the typical school year.Since some municipalities did not finalize budgets until early 2012, having re-opened the budgets previously adopted by prior administrations, final millage rates were not set until recently. The Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau recently released the countywide millage schedule showing tax rates of each municipality and school district.The schedule shows residents of the Borough of Lansford will pay the highest tax rates in the county, the borough as well as the Panther Valley School District having the highest taxes in the county according to classification.The borough's tax millage is set at 33.47 mills while Panther Valley's is 55.69. Those two rates, coupled with the county's assessment of 6.893 mills, mean Lansford property owners will be paying 96.053 mills on their assessments.Property owners can calculate their annual real estate taxes by multiplying the total millage in the municipality in which they live by their property's assessment. In Lansford's case, for instance, the towner of a home assessed at $50,000 would pay $4,802.65 for the three taxing entities (borough, county and school district).Summit Hill's taxes are the second highest in the county. The borough's millage of 16.1, added to the school's rate and the county's, means property owners in Summit Hill will pay 78.683 mills.Nesquehoning taxes are the third highest, the borough's 14.5 mills calculating into the total of 77.083 that residents in that municipality will pay.In terms of borough taxes, the top five highest taxes are: Lansford, 33.47; Summit Hill, 16.1, Nesquehoning, 14.5, Parryville, 12.5, and Weissport, 10.9The lowest taxed boroughs are East Side, 2 mills, Weatherly, 4.8, Beaver Meadows, 5.5, Lehighton, 6.5, and Jim Thorpe, 6.9.The highest township taxes in the county are paid in East Penn Township, listed at 7.635 mills, followed by Franklin Township, 6.837, Mahoning Township, 4.25, Kidder Township, 4.2, and Penn Forest Township, 3 mills.The lowest taxed townships are Lehigh Township, .47, Lausanne Township, .57, Packer Township, .6, Banks Township, 1.1, and Lower Towamensing Township, 1.6. Ironically, none of the lowest taxed townships have their own police departments, nor does Penn Forest Township, which is apparently among the reasons why their taxes remain lower than the other townships.And, the school district taxes, from highest to lowest, include: Panther Valley, 55.69, Palmerton, 49.144, Lehighton, 47.32, Jim Thorpe, 44.53, Weatherly, 40.46, and Hazleton, 29.3187.