January 17, 2007

Appeal Your Assessments or Appeal Your Taxes

If you ever wondered how to enact a winning property tax appeal you’ll find your answer at Property Tax Appeals Finally! A property tax guide that shows you with pinpoint accuracy how to value your home and show your municipal authorities what the want to see. Show them the format the want to see and hear. Target the "right comparable adjustments" and get your appeal in the winners circle. And, it won’t cost you much.Many homeowners use professional representation. I speak to them at hearings and ask what it costs to appeal. The average cost for a lawyer in my state was around $250 an hour that they had to be present at municipal hearings or tax court. You don't know when your case is heard. It could be morning or afternoon … the attorney's meter is running.

The initial appraisals cost about $400 (the cheapest they could find was $390) plus $350 for their appraiser showing up to testify for up to 4 hours (half day; anything else is extra). Still others scour the magazines and internet for any hint they can find on how to crunch the numbers and technique.

Your local government uses what is called a mass appraisal process to value you home. They obtain valuation quickly and usually inefficiently by getting cheap fast results. They spend huge amounts on this to catch the few folks who added a deck, patio, shed or small addition without a building permit.

Many times the highest-priced homes are used as a gauge of the neighborhood's value. The easy way is to roll over previous information. Erroneous information makes it way on the property record card. While cost effective (so they think) to the tax collection authority, it is not fair to a large portion of homeowners.

Consumer Reports (Nov.1992 v57 nil p.723) published that property tax records show an error rate of 40% exists in estimating property taxes. The National Taxpayers Union ("How To Fight Property Taxes" 2004 p.1) writes that as many as 60% of all homeowners are over-assessed and not in line with their home value.

When you win a property tax appeal your tax win continues: Your property tax assessment savings rolls over year after year - it's not just a one shot deal! If you reduce your taxes say $1,000 for the year, that savings is yours each and every year until the next blanket reassessment … which could be for another 5, 10, 20 or more years.

The correct vocabulary is that one appeals their assessments. Appealing your taxes is a political issue. If you don’t like your taxes, your protest them! The nonsense of tax increases is largely the result of spineless government officials who are addicted to spending instead of cost cutting. I live on a budget and so should my government! Period.

The Village of Skokie, Illinois has kept promise to keep taxes flat since '90. It can be done!It's not surprising that Skokie trustees made a promise in 1990 to hold the line on taxes. What's surprising is that the promise still stands. The Village Board is scheduled to vote Monday on a 2006 tax levy of $15.5 million, the same amount it levied in 1990.That's 16 consecutive years with no new property taxes. Had the village increased its levy every year just to account for inflation, as determined by the consumer price index, Skokie's 2006 tax levy would be $23.3 million, said Robert Nowak, director of finance.

It can be done! Is budgeting done in you community?

Filed under Blog, Property Tax Appeals, Property Tax Assessments by George Bolton