December 22, 2023
By Ashley Al-Shawish
After the State Auditor’s preliminary report concerning Jackson County’s property assessments and the Missouri AG’s lawsuit against the county, taxpayers are URGED to contact the Missouri State Tax Commission (STC) to see if they qualify for an appeal directly to the state. Missouri Auditor Fitzpatrick and Missouri AG Bailey agree that the Jackson County property assessments in 2023 violated state law. Homeowners who received property notices after June 10th, 2023 or who saw assessment increases over 15% will likely qualify for an appeal to the Missouri STC. This is a huge win for homeowners in the county but the clock is ticking as the deadline to apply to the state is December 31st. Taxpayers have nine days to contact the State Tax Commission and request an appeal.
Jackson County Legislator Sean Smith agrees this is a huge win for Jackson County property owners. He believes this week’s announcements should require a Special Meeting for the Jackson County Legislature immediately. At this time, Chairman DaRon McGee has made no such announcement. “I have supported multiple efforts in addressing the assessments this year including initiatives urging the Board of Equalization to put a 15% cap on the assessments or rolling back to 2022 rates, all to no avail. It is the responsibility of the Legislature to take immediate action and actively respond to the state’s findings,” Smith says.
At this time homeowners should immediately contact the Missouri State Tax Commission and request to file an appeal due to the erroneous Jackson County Assessments. With the deadline of December 31st, the STC is taking this unprecedented action to help find fair agreements for taxpayers whose property values increased more than 15%, or who received property notices after June 10th. Here is a landing page with instructions on how to file, answers to commonly asked questions and the link to the application form:
Follow Sean Smith on social media for the most up to date information at facebook.com/SeanSmithRep
