Utah's Abominable Property Taxation

- Property Tax Explosion -

JUST IN! FEBRUARY 28, 2008 - We just got back from our 2007 farcical property tax appeal. Listen in on the hearing and a discussion with two assessors. Click here for rundown and audio recordings

Up until 1995, Utah's property tax rates were below the 2 1/2% Federal COLA (The Federal Cost of Living Adjustment). After 1995, however, property taxation suddenly took off. Our home in Salt Lake County leaped at an unbelievable 41% per year from 1995 to 2006!

This would be the length of an ordinary pencil with Utah's abominable taxation increases since 1961
A new 7 1/2 inch pencil would explode to an 8 1/3 foot long monster for a 46 year old home which is ready for the wrecking ball

In contrast, this is the true condition of our 45 year old home due to age, termite damage, settling, leaking roof, and damage because of vehicles running into the home.

"Judgments awarded to the County for taxation beyond afford ability are despicable and criminal.
Judge Clinton Jensen, Judge Kerry R. Chapman, Commissioners Pam Hendrickson, Marc. B. Johnson, R. Bruce Johnson, and D'Arcy Dixon Pignanelli should be held fully accountable for their irresponsible, immoral actions."

Of special note: Salaries are listed here for the above individuals who made judgment against a person overwhelmed by property tax --- trying to make "ends meet" with a Social Security Retirement income of $12,000 per year.

Table of Contents . . .

Introduction

Summary of Data for Formal Hearing

Formal Hearing Decision made in favor of the County

Data Files and Audio Recordings

2007 Property Tax Hearing (no results yet)

Things About Utah the Travel Bureau Prefers You Don't KNow

Introduction

Including the latest 2007 property valuation notice and increase, property taxes DOUBLE every FOUR YEARS!

It takes the average worker 28 YEARS to double his income. That is if he's lucky and gets the typical Federal COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). What damage the County Assessor can do in FOUR years, it will take the average worker 28 YEARS to make up.

Unfortunately, since 2001, pay for the low and middle income worker has stagnated to a meager wage increase of just 1/2% per year. Factoring in inflation, wages have declined.

Further, Utah's wages are lower. The average worker gets less now than in 2001. In 2001 he earned $13.75 per hour. In 2007 he makes $13.27 per hour.

Utah has one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the nation. Further, last year bankruptcies increased an astounding 25%. This is shocking in light of new Federal laws which were designed to decrease bankruptcies.

Within a few doors of our home, several homes have met the fate of either bankruptcy or inability to pay property tax. On October 18, we learned of yet another home ".... we are leaving -- giving up --- and will have to demolish this home." A total of six properties within about five doors from us have been or appear to be in financial trouble.

In a word, Utah's property taxation is out of control.

Utah is starting to be feeling the national crash of property valuation. In our area of the city, property values have decreased by 14% .... (HOWEVER, our taxation valuation went UP by 19% !)

Summary Of Data For Our Formal Hearing

October 30, 2007

I appeared before the Utah State Tax Commission before Judge Clinton Jensen and Commissioner R. Bruce Johnson. Click here for a recording of these proceedings MP3 audio recording.

These points were emphasized.

1. Our property valuation increase 486% over the past 12 years (using 2006 as the reference). This amounted to a property taxation increase of 41% per year. Sampling many Salt Lake County homes, we found no other property which suffered similar taxation increase.

2. A NINE year study was made for 32 properties in our area. This study was limited to these nine years because this was the only available data from www.slpropertyinfo.org. Our property suffered a 216% increase while other properties scanned had MUCH lower property tax increases. Other properties ranged in increases from 105% to 175%.

3. TWO DVDs were furnished to the court. One clearly showed that of the five categories the Salt Lake County allowed for appealing tax, that NONE were effective or reasonable. In fact, it was essentially impossible to appeal one's taxes using the system. For example, the one category "C" was for "comparable properties. Since all property valuations were skewed because of past County practices and corrupted data, any comparable used was sorely contaminated with error.

4. It was shown that GIAGO was used to corrupt County data. GIAGO stands for "Garbage In, Amplified Garbage Out." It's a computer term used to describe computer programming which fails to use data correctly. Namely, to sort, omit, delete, and then loop erred data through many interations. For example, the county deliberately deletes certain properties and fails to average in properties which have met with disasters such as bankruptcy or failure to pay taxes .
5. It was pointed out that in our preliminary hearing given by Judge Kerry R. Chapman, that Judge Chapman failed to understand the "Effective Taxation Rate." In fact, despite State Law which states that property be taxed according to valuation, this effective taxation rate violates this law by re-adjusting taxation rates after the fact. It was used in 2007 to sustantially reduce taxation in Salt Lake County. A .65% rate was used which was unprecedented.

6. It was shown that a property just threee doors away at 77 East Girard Ave. was deliberately eliminated from the County's data base. This was a property which the County verified that was a case where the property owner received $0.00. Their hard work and investment over many years yielded a $0.00 valuation. Such a deliberate elimination of such properties skews the data thus providing a rich, fertilized playground for real estate scams. It was demonstrated through two examples on the DVD how the County is a Main Player in these scams.

7. I further accused the Salt Lake County of being a full player in aiding real estate scam artists. The Deseret Morning News of October 26, 2007 said that "... over the years, Utah has become known as a hot spot for lending fraud. Utah has consistently ranked in the top seven states for mortgage fraud. The consequences have left individuals with ruined credit and neighborhoods with empty foreclosed homes. Neighbors also suffer when inflated home values lead to unnaturally high tax rates, and overall, Utahns pay a higher interest rate on loans because the state is seen as a high-risk state for fraud."
    The Salt Lake County is a MAIN PLAYER in this fraud.
   Additionally, Utah has LEAD the nation in bankruptcy rates over many years. In 2007, a 25% increase in bankruptcies was recorded.

8. I showed a chart which clearly shows coverup in 2007 for skyrocketing property valuations. It comes from the "Effective Tax Rate." (See Open Office "Impress" Presentation, slide 360). A .65% effective tax rate was determined for 2007. Over a 10 year period, the effective tax rate ranged from .77% to .83%. Such a low effective tax rate of .65% resulted in many property owners receiving a tax reduction. In fact in our immediate neighborhood, most properties got a tax reduction (not ours). But the unwary home owner maybe didn't notice that in EVERY case, their property VALUATION skyrocketed! Increases started at 6% and went up from there averaging 20% in several cases. While they may not have gotten a tax increase in 2007, when the effective taxation rate returns to the norm, they will be overwhelmed by the increase. This was a move by the County to hide this huge valuation increase.
    As an example of these sharp valuation increases, our property was dealt a 35% valuation increase! And the year before we received a 27% valuation increase! In other words, our property valuation shot up 62% in just TWO YEARS! AND in one single year, our property valuaton shot up over $60,000 or 2.1 TIMES the original price we paid for this property.

9. It was shown to the court that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses ONLY FACTUAL property valuation when you depreciate property. A call to the IRS verified this fact. You CAN NOT use the valuation set by the county as valid data for property valuation. It is invalid.

10. I also pointed out that property valuation is determined by what price a willing seller and willing buyer agree to exchange a property. Since we have absolutely NO intention of selling our property, 1/2 of this equation is missing. There is NO willing seller. Valuation of our property, then, is what we paid initially for the property, $28,500. This is the valuation at the last sale of the property.

11. Additionally, this $28,500 factual valuation figure is supported by the Internal Revenue Service. They recognize ONLY the price paid for a property --- not one inflated by imaginary and creative bookkeeping.

12. A comparison was made between a brand new 5 bedroom, 3 garage, 3 bath, 2 furnace, spacious home with large lot in an improved subdivision which had approximately the same 2006 valuation as given by the county for our 45 year old duplex located in a hodge podge neighborhood. New homes are energy efficient, have much nicer living facilities. We pointed out the stark discrepancy. New homes CAN NOT be compared to old homes.

13. Also pointed out was the 13.29 TIMES increase of property over the 45 years we have lived in this home. We used a 7.5" pencil as an example. Using the explosive tax increases we have received over these years, the pencil would end up to be 8 feet, 3 inches long!!! In actual fact, the pencil is worn down, because of age, and now has a length much, much less than the original 7.5 inches.

14. A chart was shown where Federal Cost of Living shows income has increased 2.7 TIMES since 1962, the period we are making tax and valuation comparisons. Property Taxation and Valuation dwarfs this 2.7 TIMES wage increase which matches my situation during my lifetime. Our Property Taxation has increase 13.29 TIMES since 1962!
    More alarming is that from 1995 until the present, wage income has been flat --- even negative when factoring in inflation. BUT, property taxation by Salt Lake County increased by FIVE TIMES during these few years! Utah wages have DECLINED over the past six years (since 2001). A Utah wage in 2001 was $13.75. In 2006 that wage had dropped to 13.27. This is a wage decline of 3.6%.

15. The Salt Lake County uses absolutely NO REFERENCE STANDARD by which to base property valuations or taxation. ANY SYSTEM RUN WITHOUT A REFERENCE STANDARD goes into CHAOS. Taxation has escalated beyond even a full-time working person's ability to pay. The most important reference standard of all .... ABILITY TO PAY ..... is completely ignored.

16. We demonstrated quite clearly that rental income is a myth during the DVD presentation which contained the Impress presentation for this Formal Hearing. Landlords are forced to subsidize renters. In our case, calculations show this subsidization to be 55%. We pay 55% of the costs to house a renter, while the renter pays only 45%. Our loss amounts to $12,306 per year! Further, our research shows our rents to be above the norm for this street.
    We showed that factual affordable rent was $650 a month for Salt Lake City. None of the data furnished by the County acknowledged this figure. Even using the County's faulted rental data, we are still paying our renters to stay in our property!
   Rental Income is simply a myth.

The Formal Hearing Decision

Despite overwhelming evidence of unfair taxation, Judge Clinton Jensen and Commissioner R. Bruce Johnson ruled against us and ruled in favor of the County.

It took a full 80 days before we heard the decision for our Formal Hearing. That's quite a delay to rubber stamp the Salt Lake County's sorted, deleted, and corrupt data.

Judge Clinton Jensen was the Judge. R. Bruce Johnson was the Commissioner for this Formal Hearing. Upon reading this decision I would judge that the two DVDs and factual information from this site were not considered in their evaluation. Further, the decision given by Judge Kerry R. Chapman during the Preliminary Hearing indicated a lack of knowledge about property taxation --- in particular the "Effective Taxation Rate." Even during Judge Clinton Jensen's Formal Hearing, facts concerning the effective taxation rate were not addressed. I would advise anyone to avoid these judges if their case is brought up before the Utah State Tax Commission. Our documented facts were glossed over, ignored and even discarded.

Family and friends familiar with our appeal are appalled of this decision made by these Judges and the Commission.

Judgments awarded to the County for taxation beyond afford ability are despicable and criminal. Judge Clinton Jensen, Judge Kerry R. Chapman, Commissioners Pam Hendrickson, Marc. B. Johnson, R. Bruce Johnson, and D'Arcy Dixon Pignanelli should be held fully accountable for their irresponsible, immoral actions.

Data Files And Audio Recordings Used For Our Argument

The URLs below are used to fight our property tax valuation increases. They include actual recordings of the appeal process, phone conversations, [Open Office Impress] presentations, and other materials. Two DVDs can be purchased from Wayne Simister ([email protected]) should you wish to see this visual data.

2006 appeal audio recording at Salt Lake County Offices (person making the appeal appeared to be legally blind)

Original script used for Appeal video.

Homes used for comparing tax rates

Quatro Spread Sheet file with figures and charts

Our property tax record from 1962 to 2006 (Quatro file).

Utah's 2007 Tax Calculations

Simister 2007 taxes - $40 increase

John Williams home - Gastronomy Millionaire 2007 tax increase $10

Rodgers similar property to ours, tax DECREASE of $71

Modest, very small home near Sugarhouse

Initial Hearing with Utah State Tax Commission - 15 serious errors in appraisal

Utah State Tax Commission initial Preliminary Hearing Audio of presentation - August 2, 2007

FORMAL HEARING FILES (Files available until January 15, 2008)

MP3 Audio recording of Formal Hearing held on October 30, 2007 (www.badongo.com/file/4959178/)(26.2MB)

Summary Sheet for Formal Hearing  

Open Office "Impress" presentation slide show for Formal Hearing, October 30, 2007 (www.badongo.com/file/4959108/)(18MB)

Audio portion of "Impress" videopresentation for Formal Hearing, October 30, 2007 (http://www.badongo.com/file/7454845)(50MB)

2007 PROPERTY TAX HEARING

We are appealing our 2007 property taxes as well. We received yet another harassing visit from the County Assessor to "look over our property." Just how many times must one visit the property to measure dimensions? Her obvious focus was ONLY upon dimensions. We requested her to inspect the termite damage, but she gave no interest. Neither did she “have the time” to observe the threat of objects and cars running into our property as has happened several times in the past.

Audio Recording - 19MB WMA file - November 16, 2007 meeting with property estimator from Salt Lake County Assessor's office. Meeting became a confrontation. We were treated rudely and given no opportunity to present our facts. Relevant facts were of no importance to this assessor person who expressed a belligerent attitude.

Utah Facts

Things About Utah That The Travel Bureau Prefers You Don't Know  

Modified February 6, 2009