http://www.sanantoniofairtaxes.org/

Carver Communications - Index

Carver Communications - 5.1.09 - Index

The San Antonio Board of
REALTORS®, partnered with the
Texas Association of REALTORS®,
has created a campaign to educate the
San Antonio consumer about
appraisal reform and mandatory sales
price disclosure. The campaign aims
to explain that sales price disclosure
is not the answer to fair property
taxes. Instead, appraisal reform is
the answer since creating a system of
standards will make the appraisal
process a fair evaluation of property.
Sales price disclosure violates
private property rights and, as proven
in other states, does not lead to fairness
in taxation. It does, however,
lead to new taxes for property owners.
Most states that have real estate
transfer taxes started with sales price
disclosure. One is typically a precursor
to the other. Skeptical? In a “50state
analysis” from the National
Council of State Legislatures and the
Federation of Tax Administrators, 40
out of 50 states showed they require
By Florence Terrell
Chairman, San Antonio Board of REALTORS®
The Appraisal Issue
mandatory sales price disclosure, and
82.5% of those states also have transfer
taxes.
Several real estate transfer tax
bills, which are essentially new sales
taxes on real estate, are moving
through the Texas Legislature right
now. We oppose these measures
because they represent new property
taxes that will further burden Bexar
County’s homeowners.
On April 15th, 2009, the San
Antonio Board of REALTORS® held
a press conference where different
media sources from all over the city
attended to hear the position of the
REALTOR® organization on this
controversial topic.
“We believe that a comprehensive
reform of the appraisal process is
necessary, and that proposed legislation
is the answer to begin this
process,” said Bob Leonard, 2009
Past Chairman of the Board. “Some
of our politicians want to add mandatory
sales price disclosure to this
THE BARTON
CO., CARPETS
Robert Guerra
655-8269
May 1, 2009 REAL ESTATE NEWSLINE 3
reform. As an industry, and for the
benefit of the property owner, we do
not agree.”
Travis Kessler, CEO of the San
Antonio Board of REALTORS® followed
this statement by talking about
mandatory sales price disclosure.
“Some of our Legislators want
this to be the fix for our broken system
of property appraisal based on
the philosophy that mandatory sales
price disclosure offers tax relief
based on that if ‘everyone paid their
fair share of the property tax burden’
then we could see lower property tax
bills,” Kessler said. “We don’t
believe that can happen. The taxes
would probably not be reduced, but
would be secured as another revenue
source for the Appraisal District.
Where would the tax reduction be if
this were to take place?” he continued.
“The mandatory sales price disclosure
bill is a band-aid solution that
won’t address the underlying problems
with the Appraisal District system.”
SABOR’s stance is that there
are several solutions to the flawed
property appraisal process we currently
have in Bexar County and
statewide. Here are some of those:
Continue to lower property tax
rates.
Require appraisers to adhere to
uniform standards in property
appraisals, specifically the Uniform
Standards of Professional Appraisal
Practice set forth by The Appraisal
Foundation.
Enforce those standards at the
statewide level by giving the Texas
Comptroller’s Office enforcement
authority over the appraisal districts
throughout Texas.
Create a new appraisal appeal
process to ensure independence from
the appraisal district.
Adjust the tax-rate calculation
to ensure local taxing districts don’t
realize a windfall when property values
increase.
Any one of these changes
would dramatically improve our
property tax system and make it fairer
for San Antonio homeowners. How
do we do it? With the help of our lawmakers.
They have the ability to create
meaningful property tax reform
that will make living in Bexar County
affordable in the long-term. We are
encouraging consumers to contact
their statewide legislators and tell the
legislators they are against new real
estate taxes and that they are for
appraisal reform.
To help consumers understand
the process better, a Web site has
been created to provide information
on appraisal reform and mandatory
sales price disclosure – HYPER-
LINK "http://www.sanantoniofairtaxes.org"
www.sanantoniofairtaxes.org.
There are radio spots running that
guide consumers to this Web site and
encourage them to take action. Feel
free to visit as well so you can begin
educating your buyers.
We’re The
REALTORS’ Resource
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