Most tax foreclosure sales involve vacant, unloved properties.  But not always. The risk of homelessness is one reason that the General Assembly and our courts demand that taxpayers’ property rights are adequately protected during the foreclosure process.  A key to … Read more

[UPDATES: June 2023: H347 is signed into law by Governor Cooper, authorizing on-line sports gambling to begin within 1 year and levying an 18% tax on gambling revenue. March 2023: a sports gambling bill was filed in the NC House … Read more

Last year I wrote about the “assessment gap” that disadvantages poor and minority homeowners in many states, including North Carolina. Intrigued by that national study of the property tax appraisal process, I decided to learn if similar evidence of systemic … Read more

It’s been 10 years since the General Assembly limited the authority of municipalities to annex property into their municipal limits.  My colleague Frayda Bluestein explained the details of these changes here and here. The most consequential of those changes was … Read more

How many taxpayers have asked you this question: “Can I get a partial refund on my property taxes if I sell the property in the middle of the year?”  The short answer is normally, “No, we don’t prorate property taxes.”  … Read more

Time for a North Carolina geography quiz! In which counties are these cities located: Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh? If you said Orange County, Durham County, and Wake County, you are . . . only partially correct.  Each of those … Read more

How far will your tax office go to fix mistakes caused by taxpayers? Consider the situation in which a taxpayer mistakenly makes a payment on property owned by another party.  The tax office applies the payment as instructed.  Later, the … Read more

I’ve written several blog posts about how the pandemic might affect local taxes (here, here, here, and here), focusing mostly on negative economic news.  But there is at least one positive economic development from the pandemic that will impact property … Read more

How should the pandemic affect property tax values for 2021?  The answer depends on (1) whether the property is personal or real and (2) whether the county is conducting a real property reappraisal in 2021.  Read on for the details.

The social justice protests that erupted in many areas of the country this summer focused mostly on law enforcement.  But systemic bias can infect any area of government, even the seemingly objective world of property tax administration.  For proof, check … Read more