Commercial properties undervalued for property tax purposes (Atlanta: sales, hotel)

[arjay57]

Sticking it to the little man.

Commercial properties get a whopping tax break, and some huge institutions are totally exempt.

When properties are valued for substantially less than they are worth, those property owners receive a de facto tax break and pay less than they should.

The audit found that over three years, the sampled properties sold for nearly 50 percent more than the values Fulton placed on them. Last year, sales prices were 80 percent higher than Fulton’s assessments, according to the audit.

Full article....Audit shows commercial properties are undervalued across Fulton County

[samiwas1]

I, for one, am shocked...SHOCKED...that big businesses and wealthy people would be getting a huge tax handout, all while complaining that they're being so unfairly treated.

[DreamerD]

Quelle surprise! Another instance of permitted thievery but doesn't deserve to be criminalized because it's "victimless" and people don't fear this kind of crime.

[jsvh]

We need a land value tax. The investor owning empty parking lots in downtown should be paying more tax than a well maintained home in West End. We should not be incentivizing so many property speculators in the city.

https://www.vox.com/2016/5/2/1153393...-tax-explained

[bu2]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Sticking it to the little man.

Commercial properties get a whopping tax break, and some huge institutions are totally exempt.

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy...urojcrS1xcLIJ/

If the Beltline is so hot, why do they need to do tax abatements to get people to build there?

To me, giving tax abatements for a hotel on the Beltline or a hotel on Peachtree in midtown as the city of Atlanta has done is little more than theft of public funds.

I understand abatements to get an Amazon. I understand when you might need to do it to get a hotel built next to a convention center (not that Atlanta needs that but some cities do). But for standard construction, its just theft of public funds by the developer. I don't believe this is done on a regular basis in other parts of the country. Certainly not areas that are booming.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by bu2

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy...urojcrS1xcLIJ/

If the Beltline is so hot, why do they need to do tax abatements to get people to build there?

To me, giving tax abatements for a hotel on the Beltline or a hotel on Peachtree in midtown as the city of Atlanta has done is little more than theft of public funds.

I understand abatements to get an Amazon. I understand when you might need to do it to get a hotel built next to a convention center (not that Atlanta needs that but some cities do). But for standard construction, its just theft of public funds by the developer. I don't believe this is done on a regular basis in other parts of the country. Certainly not areas that are booming.

There should be no tax abatements / incentives regardless, especially these thriving areas where businesses are locating to anyways.

However, a great benefit of a land value tax over an existing property tax is it doesn't penalize development. Today, if you build a shiny new business on an empty parcel in an area that needs the jobs you get hit with lots of taxes since the building value gets taxes. It is especially lopsided in areas with low land value that need the development. With a land value tax you would pay the same amount of tax as the empty lot. So it also helps discourage speculators just sitting on empty lots and gets that land into productive use. And it will not penalize people from maintaining the house / building (a dilapidated building is a lower value so gets taxed less than a maintained home, that does not happen if you just tax the land).

[bryantm3]

people have a lot of awful things to say about immigrants but they don't seem to have a lot to say about people with money flying in from all over to get a piece of this city for themselves without giving back. and giving tax abatements for amazon? the biggest, most powerful company in the world? the one we all give money to *anyway*? why should the local government pitch in and start giving it to them forcibly?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

people have a lot of awful things to say about immigrants but they don't seem to have a lot to say about people with money flying in from all over to get a piece of this city for themselves without giving back. and giving tax abatements for amazon? the biggest, most powerful company in the world? the one we all give money to *anyway*? why should the local government pitch in and start giving it to them forcibly?

Come on up to the Laughing Room. The best of everything, and it's all on the house.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by jsvh

We need a land value tax. The investor owning empty parking lots in downtown should be paying more tax than a well maintained home in West End. We should not be incentivizing so many property speculators in the city.

https://www.vox.com/2016/5/2/1153393...-tax-explained

Hmmm...well, I just picked out two random properties. A 0.13 acre parking lot in downtown, and a $485,000 home on 0.18 acres in West End. The property tax for the parking lot was $4,123.13, while the property tax for the half-million dollar home was $1,839.97 (and the house had seen a sharp increase from the previous year and also benefitted from homestead exemptions).

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

people have a lot of awful things to say about immigrants but they don't seem to have a lot to say about people with money flying in from all over to get a piece of this city for themselves without giving back. and giving tax abatements for amazon? the biggest, most powerful company in the world? the one we all give money to *anyway*? why should the local government pitch in and start giving it to them forcibly?

For real!