COMMENTARY : Tax Assessors Group Supports Fair Treatment

The commentary “Property Taxpayers Need Rights” by State Board of Equalization member Matthew K. Fong (Times, April 26) comes as an unwelcome surprise from someone who we believed had worked hard during his first year in office to learn and understand the functioning of the California property tax system.

Let me point out several of the many distortions and false allegations.

The Assessors’ Assn. has never been opposed to a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. Assessors are, however, opposed to legislation that provides preferential treatment to a select group of taxpayers.

Sen. (Becky) Morgan’s bills, SB 781 in 1991 and SB 1557 in 1992, were drafted by a law firm that was solely interested in obtaining preferential, unjustified and probably unconstitutional property tax treatment for its business clients.

Those bills were not designed to assist homeowners, small businesses or the average taxpayer. (For example, the $100,000 tax threshold, for some of the bills’ most objectionable provisions, would only be reached by a taxpayer owning a piece of property worth more than $10 million.)

The Assessors’ Assn. opposed this special interest legislation and offered a revised Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights that benefited all taxpayers equally. Although some of this language was adopted by Sen. Morgan, the additional, objectionable language was once again added to benefit special interests.

This was recognized by the Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee and the majority of those people appearing before it with testimony. Consequently, the author agreed to amend the bill to address the assessors’ legitimate concerns.

The idea that the taxpayer is not given adequate time to object to assessments is simply not true. In all instances where there has been a change in value, other than the 2% consumer price index annual increase (and in some counties, even then), the taxpayer is notified and given 60 days, in the case of supplemental events, or from July 1 to Sept. 15, in all other cases, to discuss the assessment with assessor staff prior to the issuance of a tax bill.

I agree that the property tax system can be mystifying to those not frequently involved with property transactions. But to suggest that “the system operates, in part, by keeping taxpayers in the dark” is outright false.

To suggest that the “assessor is presumed to be right” where valuation disagreements exist and that the “assessor can tie up your property without advance notice based on a faulty tax bill” is a fiction.

Owner-occupied residential property owners are always presumed to be correct and the assessor must overcome this presumption. Tax bills mailed are believed to be correct, otherwise they would never be sent. If an error has been made, bills are corrected, with no penalty to the property owner. With 10 million parcels in California, annually some errors are made.

If the property tax system is “shrouded in secrecy and obscure technicalities,” then we should look to the Legislature, past and present, to deal with these problems. Members of the State Board of Equalization have a responsibility to act in improving this deplorable situation. As tax administrators, assessors will implement these simplified statutes and rules as soon as they are adopted.

The property tax system is a complex organism, constantly changing and evolving. To expect all users of this system to understand its many facets, all of the time, is unrealistic.

Assessors have historically done their best to assist and treat fairly the property owners in their counties. We take pride in our efforts to educate taxpayers about their assessments. Unlike sales and income tax administration, property owners know who their locally elected property tax official is and they do not hesitate to contact us with their problems.

Assessors and the State Board of Equalization have a common responsibility in administering the property tax system of this state. We continue to be willing to work with the board and members of the Legislature to improve, simplify and resolve the plethora of complex issues that reside in the world of property tax administration.

The assessors of California strongly believe that we serve those who elect us best, when we do so through collaboration and constructive efforts with others, and not through confrontation and distrust.