Target Corp. seeking $116,000 tax refund from the city of Jackson for its store at Jackson Crossing

Source: Jackson Citizen Patriot

The Target Corp. is trying to get a tax refund of about $116,000 for its store in Jackson Crossing.

The Minneapolis-based corporation has filed petitions with the Michigan Tax Tribunal saying the taxable value of the property is not the $2.9 million assessed by the city of Jackson but was $2.3 million last year and $1.5 million this year.

The petition says the assessment and the taxes are “invalid and unlawful and operate as a fraud upon the taxpayer.”

Assessor David Taylor said if the petitions are granted, Target would reduce its taxes by about $34,000 last year and $82,000 this year.


Read more: http://www.mlive.com/business/jackson-lansing/index.ssf/2011/05/target_corp_seeking_116000_tax.html

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The city of Jackson is on the edge of insolvent, but the greedy bastards at Target don't give a shit. That's their idea of community involvement.

Target Ain't People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FhMMmqzbD8


Bigotry Special at Target
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1inmoke76E

Just about every state reaped extra tax revenue from inflated property assessments during the housing boom. Those assessment typically lag the economy and now that the property is worth a lot less, there is no need to pay taxes on an inflated property value that is no longer valid.

If the city in question needs to raise money, they should raise the property tax rate on all commercial property.

Not the best PR move on Targets part, but certainly within the law.

they typically locate their stores about 50 yards outside city limits so they only have to pay county taxes. :eyes:

That's absurd. Cities sometimes over value property and all taxpayers (individuals and corporations) have the right to dispute it.

Why don't you send some extra cash to the city if you're worried about them? Too greedy?

I pay this city a disproportionate amount of property taxes compared to Target. I don't have the same resources to bear that they do. The city shuts down my request for re-assessment, but Target can send in an army of lawyers to compel the city to reduce their taxes or spend more than that on attorneys.

They will get their way... because they can.

Yes, they are greedy. They want to be free to extract as much money out of the community as they want, but don't want to pay for the infrastructure they use. The costs of that have not gone down. They want a retroactive tax reduction.

Commercial property here is selling for 25% of appraised valuation.

If it sells at all.

Corporate Property Tax Appeals are very common, and to be honest, the numbers cited in the OP don't seem all that extreme at a quick glance. Literally, the bigger corporations frequently have an entire department that does nothing except file tax appeals on the various locations they have across the US. Some corporations are nicer than others to interact with, but usually it is all pretty low drama. They present their evidence and the local taxing authorities look at it and make a decision. IF there is still a dispute after that process, there is a next step available at either a state level or in a court room.

I have had discussions with corporate folks about the impact that these filings can have, and many times they really do take into consideration the impact the requested reductions will have on the local communities. I'll never forget a hearing (very early on) with Frito Lay and the local school district. Frito Lay had filed a tax objection and the local school district had intervened. We set up a hearing. The upshot of it all was that the local schools were gonna lose an entire teacher if that reduction was given. Bear in mind, please, that an "entire teacher" was gonna be one of 9 people. This is a very small school district, and that loss was going to have a huge impact.

In that hearing, Frito Lay's representative and the school district reached an agreement that set the property values higher than the appraised value but at a lower value than what the property was assessed at. Frito made the point that they knew that school was where all the employee's kids went, and they wanted to preserve it if at all possible. "We want to be good corporate neighbors but we also want to be valued fairly" was their attitude, and as somebody that deals with property tax appeals, I respect that totally.

There are a few companies I have seen that I lost respect for, but far and away, they mostly are just doing what is within their rights. The property tax system is imprecise, and it does not (nor should it) matter if you are a residential or a commercial property owner--you need to have the right to appeal, and it needs to be taken seriously.



Laura