BLOG:
PennEast Pipeline Prevails Because State Consented to Taking Under the “Plan of the Constitutional Convention” in 1787
In a 5-4 decision issued yesterday, the United States Supreme Court answered the question “whether the Federal Government can constitutionally confer on pipeline companies the authority to condemn necessary rights-of way in which a State has an interest. We hold that it can.” The full text of the opinion is here. By way of recap,... Read More
Cedar Point Nursery – Per Se Taking Found by United States Supreme Court
[Photo Credit – NY Times 6-23-21] The US Supreme Court decided a takings case in favor of a property owner yesterday. Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, ___ U.S. ___ (2021). The Court found that there was a per se taking where governmental regulation permitted union organizers limited access to private farm property. The full... Read More
Appellate Court: Ensure Your Address Is Current With The Tax Assessor, Or It May Cost You
The Appellate Division recently decided a case between the City of Newark and IMJ1, LLC, regarding three parcels of property which IMJ1 owned in Newark. The three parcels of property were purchased in January 2017 and were characterized by IMJ1’s counsel as being abandoned. From January 2017 through the present day, IMJ1 never paid the... Read More
Are Property Taxes Too High In New Jersey?
Pursuant to a recent Wall Street Journal article, a study conducted by the finance company Self found that the average New Jerseyan pays $931,000 in taxes in their lifetime. That ranks as the most of any state in the country. To put it into perspective, pursuant to the same study the average American pays $525,000... Read More
New Legislation: Make The Veteran’s Tax Exemptions Available for Co-Ops and Other Communal Housing
The NJ Veteran Property Tax Exemption has been frequently discussed on this blog. For example, we blogged a case regarding the denial of a Veteran’s Tax Exemption because the deceased veteran never held a property interest nor had a Veteran’s Tax Exemption on the subject property. The Veteran’s Property Tax Exemption has been around since... Read More
The Process to Appeal Your New Jersey Property Tax Assessment
Although many property owners may believe that their property tax assessments are set in stone, the truth is that property taxes are not fixed expenses. Tax assessments hinge on the assessor’s calculation of the market value of a property, and it is often the case that such calculations are inaccurate or not reflective of current... Read More
Tax Court: Chapter 91 Request Must Be Unambiguous
Chapter 91, codified at N.J.S.A. 54:4-34, has long been a tool used by municipalities to dismiss tax appeals. Chapter 91 applies to income-producing properties. The tax assessor mails the taxpayer a written request for the income and expenses on income-producing property. Those figures help the assessor determine the value of the property for the succeeding... Read More
Jersey City Tax Assessor Questioning Property Tax Exemptions for Non-Profits
The Property Tax Assessor in Jersey City has been attempting to remove various nonprofit organizations’ property tax-exempt status. While some non-profits have been successful in maintaining their property tax-exempt status, several others are still in danger of seeing their property’s tax-exempt status revoked. This could cost nonprofit organizations thousands of dollars a year in property... Read More
New Legislation: Make iGaming No Longer a Factor in Atlantic City Property Tax Calculations
The newest trend in gambling is that you can do it from your couch. Internet gaming (“iGaming”) has become a staple of the casino industry. In New Jersey, under a law passed in 2014, iGaming is factored into gross gaming revenue (GGR) in calculating the property tax on nine land-based casinos in Atlantic City. The... Read More
Appellate Division: For Tax Purposes, a Property’s Prospective Zoning Change Must be “Reasonable”
From 2004-2018, the Township of Dover (now officially known as Toms River) decided to impose a property tax upon a 1211-acre tract of land in their municipality with its highest and best use as a residential property. However, at the time of Dover’s assessments the property’s zoning designation was for manufacturing, had been declared a... Read More
