Hornswoggled: NM Property Tax Scam

Protesting your real estate assessment? Make sure you know what your options are.

If you own a home in New Mexico, you probably wince at the sight of your tax bill. When your Notice of Value arrived, did it seem fair? Have you thought about protesting it? If so, there’s a good chance your County Assessor gave you incomplete information.

Tipped off by a trusted source, I surveyed County Assessor Websites, in search of information about protesting property value assessment.

State law provides two ways to contest valuation, however, most County Assessors only mention one option. The New Mexico Property Tax Division issues an online pamphlet, with detailed instructions, but, they also focus exclusively on one approach.

Here is the Statute, from FindLaw:

This is the link:

https://codes.findlaw.com/nm/chapter-7-taxation/nm-st-sect-7-38-21/

There’s several big differences between the two methods of protest.

The first method, the one which tax assessors appear to prefer, involves three appointed board members, and a whole lot of rules.

This is page one of the NMPTD protest pamphlet, which describes this process:

The second method, which is not discussed or mentioned in this nine-page document, involves paying the first half of the disputed tax bill and filing in District Court for a refund.

This is a description of the process in Bernalillo County, from the Bernalillo County Assessor’s website:

The second approach, filing for a refund, does require paying half the tax bill, and a filing fee of approximately $132.00. However, it’s more likely to be fair, because judges have extensive legal training, and they aren’t associated with County Assessors.

The rules of evidence are different, too. In court, you can include additional information during the proceedings. The boards have strict limitations on how much proof you can bring forward.

Additionally, filing a claim for refund gives you the right to appeal to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court.

If you appeal a petition with the County Assessor, it goes to the District Court, which is required to give extra weight to the board’s decision.

The boards, comprised of loosely-qualified people who serve at the pleasure of county officials, operate with far lower standards of procedure, and the results might well be tainted with bias against property owners.

If you are weighing your options, it’s important to know that you can’t use both methods. This fact is not mentioned in the NMPTD pamphlet, and it’s not mentioned by County Assessors who fail to present both options.

The majority of Assessors steer property owners towards filing with local boards.

This is from the Torrance County Assessor, which only includes the board option:

This is from the Valencia County Assessor:

The Valencia County Assessor only provided a link to the NMPTD pamphlet, without any other information about protesting property values.

The Luna County Assessor, along with most others, also provided a link to the pamphlet, without any other details.

Most NM County Assessors fail to give taxpayers complete information about protesting property tax valuation, but they aren’t hesitant about delinquency auctions.

This is a recent headline from KRQE News:

This is an excerpt from Google AI:

This is from NM Tax and Revenue:

Property taxes are no laughing matter. Anyone who falls ill, or suffers any other type of economic setback can easily get behind on this perpetual debt to State and County government. Basically, locals never really own their property, because paying off the mortgage won’t put a stop to the never-ending tax bills.

If those bills are too high, most County Assessors don’t care. Instead, they withhold critical information, denying property owners the opportunity to make their own decisions about how to protest.

New Mexicans deserve fair, honest government. Unfortunately, most County Assessors operate deceptively. Please share this report with anyone who wants to protest their property valuation, because they might have been misinformed.

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Much Love,

Auntie B.