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As Home Values Fall, Property Tax Revolt Brews

In many cities across the US, homeowners are filing record numbers of assessment appeals, wanting their property taxes to reflect their shrinking value of their houses.

Property taxes have become a rallying point for disgruntled Americans because, unlike sales or income taxes, they can be challenged directly by individual citizens: Some 40 percent of assessment appeals are successful. Yet the movement threatens already stressed counties, putting the tax receipts that pays for schools and police at risk.

In metro Atlanta, more than 50,000 people -- a 10-fold increase over last year -- filed appeals ahead of the April 1 tax deadline. The result was long lines of grumbling taxpayers. Little wonder: A survey released Tuesday said average home prices in Atlanta are down to 1996 levels.

Example: In Nevada's Lyon County, appeals are up 30-fold. One reason: Unemployment is at 15 percent, the highest in the state.

Assessments can be political, as a recent Supreme Court case in Nevada showed. The court ruled that dramatic differences in assessments in different counties bordering Lake Tahoe suggested that more than just the real value of the homes and properties was taken into account.

The National Taxpayer Union, an antitax lobbying group in Washington, claims that as many as 60 percent of homes in the U.S. are overassessed. For the 722,000 homes in New Jersey that are potentially overassessed, average savings on the tax bill could equal nearly $2,000