Legal Aid of Western Missouri is suing the Jackson County Board of Equalization on behalf of low-income, minority homeowners, arguing that they were unfairly hit with large assessment increases last year that resulted in onerous property tax bills.
News Story (Missouri)
Mike Hendricks
Kansas City Star
January 2, 2020
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Housing: Property Tax
Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Aid of Western Missouri
News Story (Missouri)
Mike Hendricks
Kansas City Star
January 2, 2020
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Housing: Property Tax
Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Aid of Western Missouri
DETAILS
Oftentimes, home owners who show up to appeals hearings walk away satisfied. The board frequently lowers values when presented with even minimal evidence to support the decrease.
But thousands more appeals are still to be heard, and taxes were due Dec. 31. Legal Aid further argues in the lawsuit that many home owners did not appeal their assessments because they were unfamiliar with the process, had a language barrier or never received a notice of the increase until their tax bill came in November.
Those taxpayers shouldn’t have to shoulder a bigger burden because of that, Legal Aid asserts, when the 14.9 percent cap had such a discriminatory affect.