Month: May 2009

Protest Those Property Tax Appraisals

From the Texas Comptroller’s email:

A new slide show on the Texas Comptroller’s Web site can help homeowners who are protesting their property tax appraisals.  County appraisal districts establish the taxable value for residences, but in most counties, homeowners have until June 1 to file a protest.

How to Present Your Case at an Appraisal Review Board Hearing: A Guide for Homeowners makes the property tax process more transparent by providing easy-to-understand information about what to expect at a property appraisal protest hearing.

“Homeowners are empowered by understanding the protest process, knowing what information to present to the local Appraisal Review Board and how to present it,” Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said. “It helps homeowners make convincing appeals and helps the review boards make better decisions.”

Appraisal review boards generally hear property appraisal protests between May 15 and July 25, except in major urban areas with extended protest periods.

Harris County Appraisal District Chief Deputy Sands Stiefer said the slide presentation is a welcome new resource for property taxpayers.

“We plan to link our Web site to the Comptroller’s video, and we are considering running the video in the waiting room at our ARB hearings,” Stiefer said.

To view the narrated slide show and read much more information about the property tax appraisal and appeal process, visit the Comptroller’s Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/index.html. 

Fool’s Gold

Journalist Gillian Tett warned about the problems in the financial industry long before many of her colleagues. In her new book, Fool’s Gold, Tett examines the role J.P. Morgan played in creating and marketing risky and complex financial products.  Interestingly, in her interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, Tett responded that her training as an anthropologist allowed her observe what the financial industry was not talking about.  This is how she spotted the problems in the derivatives market.  Listen to the interview here.

Banker Think

John Kozy, a frequent contributor to Global Research,  is a retired professor of philosophy and logic who blogs on social, political, and economic issues. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he spent 20 years as a university professor and another 20 years working as a writer. He has published a textbook in formal logic commercially, in academic journals and a small number of commercial magazines, and has written a number of guest editorials for newspapers. His on-line pieces can be found on http://www.jkozy.com/ and he can be emailed from that site’s homepage.  His essay on bankers,   A Banker’s Economy, is disturbing in that it was published in August 2008, before most of the  worst news about our banks had been disclosed.

Biographical information from Global Research.

Vehicle Sales Tax Deduction

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included a new income tax deduction for state or local sales or excise taxes paid on qualifying 2009 motor vehicle purchases.  This deduction is limited to taxes on the first $49,500 of the cost of the vehicle.  Conversations with the IRS National Media Relations office verified that the deduction is limited to the first $49,500 of cost but is available for two or more vehicles.

Vehicles included are passenger autos, light trucks and motorcycles and motor homes.  However, these vehicles must be new and their original use must begin with the taxpayer.

The deduction is available to itemizers and in addition to the standard deduction for those that do not itemize.  This is the second itemized deduction that is allowed to non-itemizers for 2009.  The other is a real property tax deduction that is treated as an increase in the standard deduction of $500 ($1000 for married filing joint status).