Real property tax assessments; appeals. (HB570)

Introduced By

Del. Sal Iaquinto (R-Virginia Beach) with support from 9 copatrons, whose average partisan position is:

Those copatrons are Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield), Del. Ward Armstrong (D-Martinsville), Del. Clay Athey (R-Front Royal), Del. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg), Del. Tim Hugo (R-Centreville), Del. Johnny Joannou (D-Portsmouth), Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Gate City), Del. Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach), Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Woodbridge)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Real property tax assessments; appeals.  Changes the burden of proof from the taxpayer to the assessor when a taxpayer appeals the assessment of real property to a board of equalization or to a circuit court. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/12/2010Committee
01/12/2010Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/10 10103914D
01/12/2010Referred to Committee on Finance
01/18/2010Assigned Finance sub: #1
01/24/2010Impact statement from TAX (HB570)
01/27/2010Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N)
02/01/2010Reported from Finance (19-Y 2-N) (see vote tally)
02/02/2010Read first time
02/03/2010Read second time
02/03/2010Amendments by Delegate Iaquinto agreed to
02/03/2010Engrossed by House as amended HB570E
02/03/2010Printed as engrossed 10103914D-E
02/04/2010Read third time and passed House (86-Y 13-N)
02/04/2010VOTE: --- PASSAGE (86-Y 13-N) (see vote tally)
02/08/2010Constitutional reading dispensed
02/08/2010Referred to Committee on Finance
02/12/2010Impact statement from TAX (HB570E)
02/23/2010Impact statement from TAX (HB570E)
03/08/2010Left in Finance
03/08/2010Passed by indefinitely in Finance (9-Y 5-N) (see vote tally)

Video

This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 3 clips in all, totaling 2 minutes.

Comments

Kathleen Sindell writes:

This bill should be passed. Our personal situation is a good example why HB750 should be approved. For the last twelve years our home has been "over-assessed". We have an open ceiling area. This non-living area is assessed as if it was a second-floor. The square-footage of "living space" increases our taxes. Passage of this bill would directly help our situation.

James writes:

government is out of control at every single level. They are all out for the money. Everything they do is to collect more and more money. Governemnt is not a collection agency, Its there to protect our freedoms. NOT take them away. IM tired of this. Complain ALL you want and they dont care. This is the mafia. Dont pay and they will take everything you own. God bless the USSA. Get rid of property tax. Allow me to actually OWN my property. Right now EVERYONE rents from the governemnt and every single year they increase the rent. End property "RENT" Tax. Incrrease sales tax to about 7-8% to make up a good differance then cut the budget the rest.

Robert M. Yacobi writes:

The law as presently constituted is patently and Grossly unfair to the citizens of The Commonwealth. The proposed bill should be enacted into law.

Stew Fleming writes:

The Newport News BoE provides this city with the ability to over value every property in this city. During this past year, one family who had bought their house in May for $260,000 and requested the BoE to value their house for tax purposes for the amount they paid for it. The BoE decided that the value of their house would remain at $384,600 because according to existing law, in NN the city assessor is NEVER wrong about the value of any single family house. If a sale price is not sufficient evidence to dispute the assessor's value, what evidence might the BoE require?.

In NN, The BoE heard only 48 appeals in 14 years most of which were on commercial property. I ask anyone reading this to post how many cases were heard and how many values were affirmed by their BoE in the last 10-15 years. Perhaps we could ask the VAAO to tell us how many cases are usually heard in a similar Virginia city.

Please pass this legislation.

Sal Iaquinto writes:

This is an important piece of legislation which faces an uphill battle in the Senate. If you want to see this bill pass please let the Senators know how you feel. There is no reason an already difficult process should be made more challenging for the taxpayer.

Mark writes:

Well let's hope that the newly elected Republican Governor of Virginia will realize that this will only provide work to fee appraisers while passing the cost along to taxpayers. To the woman who posted regarding her erroneous square footage because of that, why this bill should be passed...it's the equivalent of using an anvil to swat a fly. People, you're being manipulated by those who seek personal monetary gain by stirring up anti-government sentiment. At the end of the day, we all get the government that we deserve so perhaps this is poetic justice after all.

Arthur writes:

Many people do not understand what this bill, if passed, will do to the limited resources cities and counties have currently. Frivolous appeals will have to be processed by staff that is being laid off in these difficult budgetary times. Every locality in the Commonwealth is terminating positions. Will the state provide the funding necessary to process the thousands of frivolous tax appeals??? And how about the money that will be wasted by local governments in law suits?

Whit writes:

This is bad legislation. Judges in the Commonwealth have consistently recognized the problems inherent in mass assessments and give the benefit of the doubt to the assessment because as stated above, the system would bog down with merit-less appeals if it wasn't so.

The VAST MAJORITY of appeals consist of little more then an argument that the value is too high. No supporting evidence, photos or thought out arguments. This legislation would allow owners to show up without doing any work to support their claim and create additional costs to the locality's taxpayers.

Lets scrap the assessment model and allow localities to tax consumption, not wealth!!!!

Waldo Jaquith writes:

The Senate Finance Committee held a vote on this bill but, according to the Family Foundation, the record of that vote was expunged from the record without explanation. However, the Family Foundation did capture this portion of the committee meeting on video.

They write that the bill "went down on a straight party line vote, 9-5, with Senator Fred Quayle (R-13, Suffolk) absent from the vote."