WE WON … WE WON!!!

ALERT: #175
DATE: July 26, 2008
TO: Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners
FROM: Village League Tax Revolt Committee

Dear Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Taxpayers,

AT LAST! For the second time our patience and hard work has come to fruition. The unanimous decision issued by the Nevada Supreme Court, just yesterday, verified everything that we thought about the unconstitutional appraisal methods used by the Washoe County Assessor.

Attorney Suellen Fulstone did a superb job of presenting our defense to the Court, and after nearly six years of hearings and battles, the ruling that they made is everything that we had hoped for and more.

This second decision by the Nevada Supreme Court re-validated their first decision, in the Bakst case, which we thought should have been applied across the board to ALL Incline Village and Crystal Bay property owners.

The Washoe County Assessor’s office, the Nevada State Board of Equalization, the Nevada Tax Commission and the Nevada Department of Taxation fought us tooth and nail for the last year and a half with a position that the first Supreme Court decision only applied to the 17 plaintiffs in the 2003/04 case. Well guess what? They are wrong and we are right.

The Supreme Court ruled that the residential land valuation for the Plaintiffs in the 2004/2005 tax year must also be rolled back to the 2002/2003 tax year. This ruling will directly affect all of the other hearings and lawsuits involving your property tax issues. This includes tax years, 2003/04, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08 and our present tax year of 2008/09. The dominoes are starting to fall!!

Copy of the Ruling
If you are so inclined, you can read the complete Nevada Supreme Court Advance Opinion issued yesterday by downloading the following 25 page document.

http://www.NevadaPropertyTaxRevolt.org/08/NV-SupremeCourt-080725.pdf

Excerpts from the Ruling
Following are several excerpts from the 25 page decision that all of you should read very carefully. These excerpts really show that what we have been fighting for in the last 6 years is correct and that the Washoe County and Nevada property taxation system is truly BROKEN.

• On page 7: “Our review led to the conclusion that the methods the Assessor used to adjust the comparable sales prices were unconstitutional because they had not been established or approved by the Nevada Tax Commission and varied from the methods used in other parts of Washoe County and throughout the State. Accordingly, we rolled back the properties’ taxable values to the 2002-2003 tax year rates.”
  
  
• On page 17: “We determined in Bakst that the methods used by the Assessor to determine the 2003-2004 property valuations were unconstitutional, and therefore, the assessments based on those valuations were null and void.”
  
  
• On page 24: “CONCLUSION: In these cases, the State Board erred by disregarding the Taxpayers’ arguments that the Assessor used unconstitutional methods to determine the taxable values of their properties and by failing to recognize that a taxable value may be unjust and inequitable despite being less than the full cash value of the property. Thus, the Taxpayers met their burden of proving that the taxable values of their properties were unjust and inequitable by showing that, in assessing their properties, either by reappraising or factoring, the Assessor used methods or adjusted values that we declared unconstitutional in Bakst. We conclude that nothing significant distinguishes these cases, factually or legally, from Bakst, and we therefore affirm the district court’s orders granting judicial review, declaring the Taxpayers’ 2004-2005 assessments void, and setting their assessed values for 2004-2005 to the 2002-2003 levels. The Taxpayers are entitled to refunds of all excess taxes paid and six percent annual interest.”

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Our attorneys and the board members of the Village League are, as we speak, poring over every word of this powerful decision to determine exactly how best to use this ruling to win victory in all of our other cases.

HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO?

We will be sending Alerts as quickly as the process of resolving these matters unfolds. Watch for your email instructions.

There are lots of details involving tax refunds, interest calculations, and other items that will require your attention. We hope you have kept all your property tax records since tax year 2002/03. Start digging now to find them. They will become necessary in the future to determine refunds and interest amounts.

IN SUMMARY

Our 6 year battle has finally started to come to the conclusion for which all of us have been hoping and praying. How thrilling to be able to share this extraordinary news of another VICTORY with you. Our patience has been rewarded and we truly have been given a huge reason to celebrate.

Our thanks to all of you for your confidence in our efforts to win this extraordinary campaign against unconstitutional taxation by governmental agencies.

JUSTICE WILL TRIUMPH!!

Sincerely,