THE INSIDE SCOOP ON North Carolina Property Taxes BRAD RICHDALE SCAM

We said to one another, “The worst that can happen is we can get our assess kicked.”

The appeal was in Raleigh, North Carolina and the prevailing law at the time for property tax valuation was that the “market approach” was far and away the most important factor in arriving at values for property taxation. The cost and income approach were considered but really not used.

To be honest with you, to me, the real true market value is the still the best way to value property for tax purposes. But there are times you go to war just because you can and someone begs you and draws you in and like a fool, you make a mistake to engage.

Here were the facts of the case. For years, developers in North and South Carolina built and sold timesharing by the week, tenth and quarter share ownership plans on the East coast. Many developers were business acquaintances and a lot of them were very big clients.

So the assessor re-values the property (in an incredibly beautiful, yet hurricane prone area of North Carolina) by the precise market value of the quarter share, tenth share or weekly fractional ownership price paid in a fair market transaction. My friend was a very good trial lawyer and we knew we had a five percent chance of winning and our semblance of extremely logical BS that had worked in other similar landmark cases was our strategy for this uphill climb. 

A case at this level is serious and the implications were far reaching. I told clients after the initial meeting with the county assessor, “This guy is good and has a political agenda. I think we will get clobbered.” The local mayor cares less about second homeowners because they don’t vote but he could increase taxation by law. He was right and had to cut through us like a hot knife through butter. Man, was this guy connected.

After the county’s opening statement and the reaction on the faces of the board, I knew we were screwed. The case was decided before we ever stepped into the room. They even discussed when they would disallow our evidence – we got trounced. After all, it was North Carolina, and why be fair when it comes to tourists and second home taxation when you don’t need to be?

The timesharing taxation argument that had worked in South Carolina on two occasions didn’t work because the law was clearly on their side and the case was clearly decided long before we ever entered the courtroom. The files were flagged with post it notes and each member of the board had their files marked in the same places. I have had my ass kicked several times in my life, but this was like getting your ass kicked while you wore a nicely starched white shirt; it was formal and more impactful.

Am I an enemy of property taxation? Heck no! You can’t pay for the cops to come arrest your second cousin while he beats your wife unless you have a property tax system. What I’m against is spending levels remaining the same or slightly lower than before, the collapse of the financial system and $472 rolling stop sign tickets.

I can afford a $472 ticket. I’m very angry about it and on every show I’m on, it will come up. I’m angry about the lady that makes $472 a week getting the ticket. For her, I’m exceptionally pissed off. The $472 ticket is just a start. Property taxes will be the home of political shenanigans. Mayors don’t like firing firemen so prepare to get hammered if you own property.  

                                              written by Brad Richdale
                                               blog by Bradford Richdale