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The bill's provisions regarding the determination of highest and best use, and the bill's prohibition of the consideration of use restrictions that prohibit the continuation of the current property use, could prevent properties from being appraised at lower values by comparing them to properties that are being used in a less productive manner. By preventing this kind of appraisal comparison, this bill could prevent future taxable value losses creating a gain to the state through the school finance formulas. Because the future decisions of appraisers, appraisal review boards and courts cannot be predicted, the gain cannot be estimated. Included below as an example, however, is a table showing possible gains from the bill and is for illustrative purposes only.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
This bill would change the way that property appraisals are made for the purposes of tax liability for retail property. This would require that to be a comparable property, the property at issue and the comparable property must have the same highest and best use.
This bill would make it more difficult for retailers to successfully appeal the appraised value of their property which would lead to higher their being subject to a higher tax burden with less recourse. This inhibits individual limited government and property rights. We oppose HB 27.