Tech Companies Have a Unique View of Their Net Worth When Paying Property Tax

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cageymaru

cageymaru

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Technology mega corporations such as Apple love the spotlight as their stock rises to new highs such as hitting the $1 trillion mark. Everyone is excited for them; including the county tax assessor. When it is time to pay taxes on the new fancy campuses and the equipment inside of them, suddenly they become poor. A $1 billion building is suddenly only worth $200 to Apple. A Genentech campus is only worth $14 billion instead of the $33 billion that the tax assessor valuation recommended. Tax collectors say that the hundreds of tax appeals filed by these mega corporations is just a way to wear the local government down, and in the end the county's infrastructure such as roads and schools are negatively affected.

"I don't want to imply someone doesn't have a right to contest their taxes if they believe the assessor has made an error. But that's not what Genentech is doing," said Deputy County Counsel Rebecca Archer. "They're just filing and seeing what sticks, like throwing spaghetti at the wall. It's working the system to the max in a way that's not productive for taxpayers, for the companies (or) for the assessor."
 
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Sooooooo... the government needs to STOP giving handouts to people AND:

1. You have a vehicle, the taxes you pay for "infrastructure" should be tied to how many miles you drive per year.

2. You have a kids/kids in public school, you pay a certain amount in taxes per child.

Property taxes and most taxes in general are a huge wealth redistribution plan. Taking from the producers to give to the leeches.

The companies building these places have already paid a huge amount in sales tax for the materials to build. And if they need a road built to their building/campus/whatever, they should pay that amount as part of the cost of building. Does the local government even pay for the initial road in the first place?

And then the employees are taxed out the wazoo every pay period.

I like the property taxes where I am at. Way lower than any other place I have ever lived or looked to live.
 
It's complicated - because there has to be some kind of checks and balances on the concept of the government determining how much your property is worth - Otherwise they would just saying everyone's property is worth $999,999,999.

I honestly don't like the concept of the government determining how much property is worth in order to tax us based on it and think there are more efficient and better means....



cyclone3d To a a certain extent - we need more kids to make the next generation to pay the next taxes to pay off debt. It isn't always a simple proposition - hence why there are tax incentives to have kids. At the same time, if people stop having kids then schools will be forced to shutdown, teachers will be forced to find a new career, etc...
 
cyclone3d said:
Sooooooo... the government needs to STOP giving handouts to people AND:

1. You have a vehicle, the taxes you pay for "infrastructure" should be tied to how many miles you drive per year.
Click to expand...
I pay this with my highest gas tax in the nation and some of the highest tolls over bridges in the nation.

They keep using that money for bullshit that isn't what it was supposed to go to.

They can kick rocks with more taxes on cars in California.
 
Cyraxx said:
It's complicated - because there has to be some kind of checks and balances on the concept of the government determining how much your property is worth - Otherwise they would just saying everyone's property is worth $999,999,999.

I honestly don't like the concept of the government determining how much property is worth in order to tax us based on it and think there are more efficient and better means....



cyclone3d To a a certain extent - we need more kids to make the next generation to pay the next taxes to pay off debt. It isn't always a simple proposition - hence why there are tax incentives to have kids. At the same time, if people stop having kids then schools will be forced to shutdown, teachers will be forced to find a new career, etc...
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Oh, I'm all for having kids.. I have 4 myself.

Thing is, they don't go to public school and I get absolutely 0 tax breaks for them not going to public school.

Public schools, from experience, are pretty much there to just dumb down the population in general so they can be more easily controlled. The political left wing crap that is shoveled in public schools and at colleges is disgusting.
 
cyclone3d said:
Oh, I'm all for having kids.. I have 4 myself.

Thing is, they don't go to public school and I get absolutely 0 tax breaks for them not going to public school.

Public schools, from experience, are pretty much there to just dumb down the population in general so they can be more easily controlled. The political left wing crap that is shoveled in public schools and at colleges is disgusting.
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I didn't know Betsy DeVos posted on these forums.
 
Lizard Testes said:
Nor should you. Taking money away from public schools in order to give it to people that can afford to send their kids to private schools is fucking evil.
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My kids don't go to a private school. They are home schooled.

Letting me keep more of the money I earned is NOT taking it away from somebody else.

You are advocating for wealth redistribution.
 
"In one appeal filed in 2015, Apple said that a cluster of properties in and around Apple Park in Cupertino that the assessor valued at $1 billion was worth just $200. In another, property that the assessor valued at $384 million was, in Apple’s view, worth $200, according to an appeal application."

That right there is just fucking evil. Considering the company, I can't say I'm surprised.
 
lucidrenegade said:
"In one appeal filed in 2015, Apple said that a cluster of properties in and around Apple Park in Cupertino that the assessor valued at $1 billion was worth just $200. In another, property that the assessor valued at $384 million was, in Apple’s view, worth $200, according to an appeal application."

That right there is just fucking evil. Considering the company, I can't say I'm surprised.
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Yeah I’d be totally shocked if google is doing the same in Mountain View /s
 
Scale and the Federal Tax code help here as well. If Company X spends $2 million per year on attorneys and accountants who do nothing but protest tax assessments, any savings over $2 million winds up on the bottom line as more profit. Plus the expenses of the attorneys and accountants are expenses that lowers Company X's income taxes, also increasing profits.
 
Lizard Testes said:
Nor should you. Taking money away from public schools in order to give it to people that can afford to send their kids to private schools is fucking evil.
Click to expand...

The real evil is forcing people to pay for worthless public schools that are so bad, they have no choice but to spend even more to send their own kids to private schools.
 
lucidrenegade said:
"In one appeal filed in 2015, Apple said that a cluster of properties in and around Apple Park in Cupertino that the assessor valued at $1 billion was worth just $200. In another, property that the assessor valued at $384 million was, in Apple’s view, worth $200, according to an appeal application."

That right there is just fucking evil. Considering the company, I can't say I'm surprised.
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Property in Cupertino that is only worth $200?
How is that possible? Is size less than 1 square foot and located between the railroad and the freeway?

Even a small track home on small lot could be worth almost a million $.
 
lucidrenegade said:
That right there is just fucking evil. Considering the company, I can't say I'm surprised.
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From the linked article:
Applied Materials, for instance, has 94 appeals totaling $6.1 billion in disputed value. Google has 132 appeals covering $2.7 billion in disputed value.
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Guess they are evil too, eh?
 
cyclone3d said:
Sooooooo... the government needs to STOP giving handouts to people AND:

1. You have a vehicle, the taxes you pay for "infrastructure" should be tied to how many miles you drive per year.

2. You have a kids/kids in public school, you pay a certain amount in taxes per child.

Property taxes and most taxes in general are a huge wealth redistribution plan. Taking from the producers to give to the leeches.

The companies building these places have already paid a huge amount in sales tax for the materials to build. And if they need a road built to their building/campus/whatever, they should pay that amount as part of the cost of building. Does the local government even pay for the initial road in the first place?

And then the employees are taxed out the wazoo every pay period.

I like the property taxes where I am at. Way lower than any other place I have ever lived or looked to live.
Click to expand...


I can't argue 1, other than it sounds ripe for abuse, but that is *technically* a solvable problem. But I would only agree if they drop the bullshit taxes they added to gas/registration. I'm in cali and my reg went from 230 to 500$, and gas prices are like 1.5$ over the national average. And those tax increases didn't even go towards infrastructure, it was to pay for an underperforming pension fund..... Fuck cali

I do NOT agree with point 2. An educated population benefits EVERYONE. More productivity/revenue, less crime and we don't end up in the current shit political climate. Education / healthcare should no be something any citizen has to worry about, and we are way down near the bottom in both compared to most other developed countries. This is the kind of stuff we should be putting money towards if we want to 'make murca great again', not dumping 700b+ on defense spending so we can go swing our ed, white & blue dick around in other countries.


Property taxes are not some surprise either, and should be a deterrent for companies building if they are too high. There shouldn't be a bunch of bullshit loopholes that are only accessible to the top or mega corps. The mass exodus of companies from a state should force them to re-evaluate their property taxes. Not that I agree with that tax, but if I buy/build a house in cali, I know what I'm getting into. I can't dispute the assessment of the house to reduce my taxes, they shouldn't either, regardless of how big that dollar amount looks to us peons.
 
Hey, I get it. I do some gymnastics when it comes to my taxes as well..

For insurance? My yard has all of the rarest and most valuable logs and lumber from all over Canada and around the world, it is worth all of the money. All of it.

Come tax time it's just a bunch of sticks.
 
nutzo said:
The real evil is forcing people to pay for worthless public schools that are so bad, they have no choice but to spend even more to send their own kids to private schools.
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And do tell why do you think public schools are so bad? Could it have anything to do with the cuts to education that have been happening for decades.... If only there was a solution for that problem.....

Yes I have kids. Yes they go to private school. I still understand the need for *improved* public education because we can already see the consequences of the funding cuts.
 
It's California. Take from those that produce and give to the lazy. Trying to get those left loons to understand how bad redistribution of wealth is, good luck with that!

Take care of those who cannot take care of themselves... I'm all for that...
 
nutzo said:
The real evil is forcing people to pay for worthless public schools that are so bad, they have no choice but to spend even more to send their own kids to private schools.
Click to expand...
Yeah, rather than improve them, better to abolish them altogether and let poor kids run free like wild animals. That's what developed countries do, right?
 
Krazy925 said:
I wish I had the ability to do that with my local property taxes in the Bay Area.
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Doesn't bother me in the least on my San Francisco property taxes, the property + house are assessed somewhere in the range of $60,000 (and no I didn't forget a zero), thank you Prop 13! In fact if anything it annoys me people keep voting in parcel taxes which raises my taxes by a sizable percentage over the 1+% of which the current rate is.
 
But at the same time, what checks and balances are in place to keep local governments from thinking they can fluff the numbers a little to get extra revenue?
 
Wow, my dad made a lot of money from contracts and I still went to public school. Had a math tutor because I didn't care for it and the school provided them.

Took out loans, got some grants, got my B.S.

Did a Peace Corps tour to try and improve our image and helps some people out (they think were a joke).

Moving to Seattle to get my masters and then I plan to take one of the many 6 figure jobs they are placing people in.....

My spouse is getting their PhD on a full ride and is already published in medical Journal's.


I think some people need to re evaluate their public school produces idiots and only poor people go to public school view.

You'd be pretty sad if all those people left tomorrow and no one wanted to work for minimum wage.


Hope theres a joke I missed or there was some sarcasm. Public school teachers have a huge burden to bear and could some of that defense spending IMO
 
Poor companies, boo hoo.

cyclone3d said:
Property taxes and most taxes in general are a huge wealth redistribution plan. Taking from the producers to give to the leeches.
Click to expand...

I've been lucky enough in my life to never have fallen on hard times where I needed to get financial help from society.
But I know that if something unforeseen does happen, I'll have some sort of safety that comes from the system I've been paying into for many years.
And I also possess enough empathy to feel for people, Americans, who need a leg up, maybe for a month, maybe for years, because that's just their situation.

I find it disgusting that you call benefits 'handouts' as if those came from the good-hearted "producers" (LOL on so many levels). I find it even more disgusting that you call them 'leeches' as if they weren't people.

Are the American farmers leeches? Because they get massive amounts of assistance left and right. Oh and now even more because of trump's tariffs. Are they leeches?

Companies are getting enough tax breaks, and have enough loopholes already. They don't need to cheat on tax assessments, and they don't deserve to get away with it.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Doesn't bother me in the least on my San Francisco property taxes, the property + house are assessed somewhere in the range of $60,000 (and no I didn't forget a zero), thank you Prop 13! In fact if anything it annoys me people keep voting in parcel taxes which raises my taxes by a sizable percentage over the 1+% of which the current rate is.
Click to expand...
I too play the family/long term property game.
 
cyclone3d said:
Oh, I'm all for having kids.. I have 4 myself.

Thing is, they don't go to public school and I get absolutely 0 tax breaks for them not going to public school.

Public schools, from experience, are pretty much there to just dumb down the population in general so they can be more easily controlled. The political left wing crap that is shoveled in public schools and at colleges is disgusting.
Click to expand...
To put it in perspective, the closes private school in my area is 42 miles away. Your experience is directly related to your life, environment, and economic standing. But you push it like that environment and economic standing are universal for everyone. Despite the fact that only a brain dead moron would assume that their experiences and environmental standards are the same as everyone else.
 
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