Detroit Real Estate

I got this Michigan property tax question today on one of my posts.  Or should I say a Michigan property tax remark about the Michigan tax tribunal.

 We recently filled out a property tax appeal petition form after meeting with the local (New Buffalo, MI) tax group did absolutely no good. We sent the form and $150 in for the small claims court. ( I think he meant the Michigan tax tribunal) The Michigan tax tribunalcashed the check the next day, but never did give us a court date( 9 months ago). However, they "lowered" the assessed value by exactly what I asked in the petition (by almost 20%), but left the important one, the taxable value, pretty much the same. Since that's the figure that goes into the tax equation, the bottom of our annual notice of assessment said our taxes will decrease by about $10 - Even though I asked for both figures to be reduced about 20%. Calling their number, 517-373-3003 does not good, nobody ever answers it, and we live hundreds of miles away. What do we do? I believe I really was entitled to my day in court! Hell, they cashed my check!

Here are my thoughts on what happened

 With what you are saying I am betting your state equalized value (SEV) originally was much higher than your Taxable value.  So when they reduced it to what you requested it reduced your SEV the 20%, reset your taxable value to the same amount of your SEV value.  But it probably only lowered your taxable value a little bit because it was already so much lower than your SEV.  So in turn it only lowered your taxes a little bit. 

So here is an example of what I think happened.  Your

Original Taxable Value                                                 Original SEV

165,000                                                                     200,000              then they reduced it 20% as you requested so the

New Taxable Value                                                      New SEV

160,000                                                                     160,000

You see they don't lower both values 20% equally.  When you fight your taxes at the local board of review and at the Michigan Tax tribunal you are just fighting to reduce the SEV.  Not the the taxable value.   Then when you reduce the SEV below the taxable value, the taxable value resets to the new SEV value.   

So sometimes you can actually lower your SEV and not lower your tax bill.  You have to lower the SEV below the taxable value in order to reduce your taxes.   So if they would have only reduced the SEV to 170,000 the taxable would have still been at 165,000.  And your taxes would not have been lowered at all!!! So in your case you need to get your SEV lowered more so it lowers the taxable value more in order to pay less in taxes.   

But that is just my guess on what happened without seeing your before and after tax bills.