Why are property taxes so high?
Property tax is the biggest source of revenue to fund local government and schools. On the average, about 32% of local tax revenue are funded from property taxes, as compared to 26% from income taxes and 24% from sales taxes. Some states do not have state income taxes, so they have to rely on property taxes. During the pandemic, sales and payroll tax revenue dropped, so local government had to make it up from property taxes.
Will the government retaliate if I protest my property taxes?
Properties are generally valued using mass appraisal method based on computer models. The values are sent to property owners ahead of protest deadline. Since hotels are typically valued based on income, the model used by the tax assessors are simply estimates. Only through the appeal process a hotel owner is given the opportunity to get the taxes reduced. Therefore, it is not possible for government to retaliate against a property owner just because they filed an appeal.
Will filing an appeal to reduce the property taxes negatively affect me when I sell my hotel?
The Fair Market Value of a hotel is measured by Net Operating Income divided by the capitalization rate. Reducing property taxes will increase the NOI which, in turn, will boost the total market value, not reducing it.
What is the difference between a property tax consultant and a tax attorney?
In order to maximize your chance of success in a property tax appeal, you will need the services of both a property tax consultant and a tax attorney. In some cases, you may also need an appraiser to issue an appraisal report. In most states, the property tax consultant will only be able to handle the administrative rounds of appeals which include informal negotiation, county Board of Equalization, and state Board of Equalization. A Tax attorney is needed if you want to pursue judicial appeal to the district court. Here at O’Connor, we offer a
one stop for all services. We coordinate and assist attorneys and appraisers in every state to pursue multiple rounds of tax appeals.
If a commercial owner is interested to engage your company to handle property tax appeal, how much do you charge?
Actually, we never charge our client any fees unless we helped them save property taxes. All we charge is sharing a percentage of actual tax savings to cover our costs; property owner keeps a majority of the savings. Our contingency fees vary from state to state or types of properties, but it covers all filing fees, attorney fees, court fees, travel expenses, etc. There is absolutely
no risk, nothing to lose.
Before a property owner engage your services, do you charge any consultation fees?
No, not only we offer free consultation, sometimes we will also provide free evaluation of their properties to see if they are suitable for an appeal.
