Leading Off
1. Dallas County will release property values today, so that Tim can protest having to pay taxes on what his house is actually worth in real market-value terms. I have a brilliant idea that I didn’t steal from Marty Cortland: Why not let people declare what their house is worth, and they only have to pay taxes on that amount. BUT, if anyone offers them that same amount for said home, they MUST sell it at that price. The tax roll wouldn’t shrink, because the high-enders would have to declare something more honest (say, $50 million for Hicks’ house instead of whatever joke it’s listed for), and so forth.
2. A $10 million redo of the spillway at White Rock Lake was unveiled this week. According to Lakewood People, highlights include “a promenade area with plazas at trail separations and merges, three cantilevered overlook balconies, new landscaping, a separated pedestrian and bicycle trail between the pedestrian bridge and the overflow weir, and a Zac Crain memorial bearded-and-disheveled statue.” I may have made up one of those.
3. Jason Castro is back! Rockwall goes nuts! OMG! Whooooo! (I’m sorry. Who does that?)
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I belive the sofa in the water was the first highlight or phase in the $10 million redo. Any chance of tying that picture back to this post?
STRANGE: The court announced its ruling against CPS coinciding with the Memorial Day weekend…timed to difuse Wick, believing said Wick would be out of town and thus not drop a cherry bomb into the blog pool with his Jerry Lee Lewis keyboard banging applause. Wick? You out there?
Maybe I’ve been going to the wrong Dallas CAD office for the last few years, but I thought they were located off I-35 north of Inwood. Guess I’d delivered property tax information to the wrong people for work a few years ago!!!!
Here you go, James:
http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2008/02/11/open-letter-to-the-guy-who-threw-his-couch-into-white-rock-lake/
Just a reminder Tim……you might be next in the rotation for Leading Off.
Don’t forget.
Eric:
You’re such a douche. Yes, it was my idea, and further, you knew that it was supposed to be my topic for next month’s column (where it would have been properly developed and smack-your-forehead persuasive — with the built-in anti-gaming mechanisms that apparently have Gordon Keith so flummoxed). Instead, Tim made me write something else, which I didn’t want to write and which, hard to believe, will be even less funny than my normal columns. So, if the issue after next has a blank last page, our readers can thank you (and based on poll results, which Tim can link to, many of them will).
Best parenthetical ever.
Thanks Tim! That made my day. The only thing that would make it better is if we could get some Crenshaw updates…Have a good weekend.
as to the tax idea, am I missing the sarcasm? Declare what your house is worth, but then you have to sell it if someone offers that? Why would I have to sell something just because you’re willing to pay what I think it’s worth? It’s not for sale. I guess the only way to feel confident you’d keep your house would be to put a higher price on it than you think anyone will pay. Subject every homeowner to forced sales- that’s a great idea! Want to get rid of an annoying neighbor or screw someone over just for the fun of it? Buy his house against his will.
Fred:
You’re actually getting the picture. If everyone put a price on his or her house equal to the price he or she would be willing (or forced) to sell it, then the tax base for the state would go up dramatically — allowing the state to lower the tax rates. Everyone would pay his or her true fair share. (As Eric notes, people like Tom Hicks are getting a steeply reduced-fare ride, because his house is radically undervalued on a percentage basis relative, probably, to your house.) It’s self-policing, as you note, and the state could get out of the appraisal business.
Marty:
As we discussed, this is fascinating. You should write about it.
Once again, I find myself in the exact opposite predicament as Tom Hicks. I would sell my abode faster than Sandra Crenshaw running from attorneys & caucus goers if I could get the DCAD appraised value. It’s crazy!
Marty, I’d like to read a lot more detail, because my initial response is that this is idiotic. What good is lowering the tax rate if we have all have to jack up the values?
Instead of Hicks having to worry about a handful of people who could afford his house, most people will have to worry about the 100,000 people who could afford theirs.
You will also displace thousands. Every lower-income neighborhood in a good location will be wiped out either by developers buying at the values, or by the residents’ inability to handle the tax burden placed on themselves through high values assigned out of fear that their property will be taken. That’s okay with me, but not a lot of people.
You guys are playing a trick on me, yes?
Fred:
Sit down. Breathe. The theory is that the little guy is paying more than his fair share. If Hick’s house is under-appraised by $20,000,000, then that’s $500,000 in property taxes he’s stiffing the county and state. That equates to the property tax on 100 $200,000 houses. Throw in Cuban’s and all the other undervalued houses in Preston Hollow and the Park Cities (including mine), and you have a monumental shift in tax burden to the folks who can least afford it. I know that the lower-income houses are not that undervalued on the tax rolls, if at all. (I bought my nanny a house, remember?) If the aggregate property value of all the residential and commercial real estate in the State was properly assessed, then the tax rate on all property could be reduced without impacting overall tax receipts. Bottom line, the little guy would pay less tax. And no, nobody would be out trying to buy up a bunch of low-income housing.
“I know that the lower-income houses are not that undervalued on the tax rolls, if at all.”
They are overvalued on the tax rolls, so the little guy is paying more than their fair share….you uppercrusters will never understand the real world.
Thanks for your advice! After sitting and breathing and finishing my 3rd glass of wine, I’m finally convinced you’re serious. I’d encourage D to publish your idea but I wouldn’t want to see my friend Tim suffer along with the rest (and I like you too Eric!) while Dallas laughs at you.
I know what your theory is and I’m not saying I disagree with you that valuations are not perfect. But you’re operating under the mistaken premise that because Hicks and other rich guys don’t pay enough, your idea is necessarily meaningful. You addressed nothing in my post other than your incorrect belief that lower-income neighborhoods (1) are not undervalued and (2) would not be a target for development. Are you familiar with the square mile or so immediately south of Bluffview and west of Greenway Parks? That’s been a target for at least 30 years, but nobody has been able to package the deal. Go about 1/2 a mile east or north from most points and the property values double.
House in your family for 3 generations? Sorry, you should have set a higher price. Rich neighbor who doesn’t like your shrubs? You’re out too. Rich ex-girlfriend’s dad wants revenge? Time to move. Sorry if it’s in the middle of your kids’ school year.
Then consider leasing issues, liens, contracts for sale, life estates…on and on.
J.Paul:
That was exactly my point about the little guy. And we do understand the real world. It’s just a different real world.
Fred:
Have another glass of wine.
Already done Marty! Thanks for addressing my post. At least you congratulated the guy who agrees with you.
You’re a champion of the common man. Since you’re convicted, make sure D publishes your idea. Maybe you can put together a webcast of the vetting meeting (or whatever you call the get together when people discuss your story) so we can all learn something!
On to glass 5 in your honor…
(sorry for the post above this one. It was unnecessary.)