Editorial

Reassessments

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Counties across Missouri are in the midst of their every-other-year reassessment process. County assessors will be notifying owners by May of the values at which their property will be assessed for tax purposes.

Under reassessment, property is supposed to be taxed based on current market values. With the economic downturn of the past year and declining real estate values to varying degrees across the country, many property owners wonder if they will see a reduction in their assessed values and, as a result, lower property taxes.

That's not like to occur, say some of the county assessors in Southeast Missouri. But while assessments aren't likely to drop, they aren't likely to go up unless there have been significant property improvements to warrant an increase.

For taxpayers who don't agree with their assessments, there is a process for appeals. It starts with the board of equalization in each county, whose decisions can be appealed to the Missouri State Tax Commission. Beyond that, taxpayers can ask a circuit court judge to decide on disputed assessments.

Take a look at your assessment notice when it arrives in the mail in a month or so. If you're not satisfied, call the assessor's office in your county and get complete information on the appeal process.

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"...property is supposed to be taxed based on current market values."

"...assessments aren't likely to drop..."

There must be something wrong with my sense of logic because this doesn't make much sense to me.

-- Posted by gurusmom on Sat, Apr 4, 2009, at 11:42 AM
Intrigued by the term 'current market value'. Perhaps more challenging for accurate assessments if a sufficient volume of houses haven't been sold recently to give a sense of 'current' - after all, the true 'market value' should be what somebody else would be willing to buy for, if the item were for sale.

On the brighter side - given that a reduction in assessed values is not likely to occur, it lessens the chance that there would be yet another tax rate increase. :-)

-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Apr 4, 2009, at 3:01 PM
Gurusmom,

Of course it does not make sense. But you are using common sense.

According to the government we are NEVER supposed to pay LESS in taxes. Even when our costs go up and up and our property values are in free fall and there is a full blown recession, the only bone they throw us is "well, we won't raise it this time around."

What a scam! If anyone does not yet see this for what it really is, they are not paying attention.

I can make another prediction too. In 2 years if the recession is over, the taxes will jump up sharply to make up for the "mercy" of not raising taxes this time around.

Everyone else has to pay our bills no matter what. If the bills are too high, we have to cut the budget to match our income. Only in the government is that idea considered insane.

-- Posted by jcwill on Mon, Apr 13, 2009, at 11:24 AM
It doesn't make any sense to me either.

-- Posted by colliemom on Fri, Apr 17, 2009, at 5:19 AM

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