Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho_NM
Democrat Diane Denish and Republican Susana Martinez have different approaches to the tax lightning issue.
There are a lot of good property deals on the market, I would not arbitrarily say it is unwise to buy a home.
This is primarily a relocation site, a site to ask questions and get answres, it is not a site to campaign, advertise or solicit in any fashion. That is a fine line a times. This is a privately owned site, it is not really here for someone to attempt to enforce "The law now says people should be informed.".
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Rich:
I think I can express opinions here. I am certainly not advertising or soliciting or campaigning. And there is no possible way I can enforce anything -- I have absolutely no powers on this board or anywhere else for that matter. I am offering and taking advice and information. Certainly that is permissible.
I hope that I can verbally support compliance with the law. If I implied that I was doing more than that, then that was my factual mistake -- sorry.
You are right that there may be property deals such that one should not pass them up despite unfortunate tax consequences. And every situation should be looked at and costs and benefits weighed. I stand corrected.
However, there is a certain reality* here that affects calculation of costs. Anyone who buys now must consider the possibility* that to quote a newspaper article
***The real estate industry has also warned that houses with higher tax bills would be branded with the scarlet letter of a perpetually higher tax bill, making them harder to sell.***
Property 'tax lightning' raises ire | tax, ire, lightning - News - Clovis News Journal
IMO the above is information that is entirely relevant to relocation decisions.
I would agree with you that this matter is state law. However, it is no longer uniformly applied across the state since the Bernalillo court decisions prompted the assessor to roll back values in that county. We now have two systems in the state.
Santa Fe has also has some aspects re tax lightning.
1. Tax lightning originated with and is continually supported by one of our politicians, Ben Lujan, the Speaker of the House and pretty much boss of this county.
2 the acceleration in property values (on a higher base to start) has made the dollar amounts at stake quite high.
3. the dollar flow of moneys into government coffers -- coming from a minority of the population -- is staggering. As an example Santa Fe County expenditures doubled in a four year period. I suspect that something similar happened with city expenditures and school board expenditures. The resulting waste I hope is unmatched in other counties in New Mexico.
4. Corruption is rampant and facilitated by the flow of funds, but everyone who might investigate this corruption is of the same party as the perpetrators.
5. our local newspaper maintains a blackout on the issue (tax lightning).
6. if county option is adopted, then IMO this county will stick with tax lightning.
7. I have been advised by lawyers that this is the last place in the state to bring a case challenging the constitutionality of tax lightning. This, of course, is related to point one.
You seem quite knowledgeable. Are you a professional in the real estate arena? (If that seems an intrusive personal question, then please forgive me, and consider it withdrawn.)
*As noted this no longer applies in Bernalillo County. The scarlet letter has been abolished there.
