IS IT TRUE March 17, 2014

1. They cut my assessment significantly.

   • Oh my, you took advantage of the law of the land to pay less taxes??? Isn’t that exactly what you keep blistering Romney, the 1%, and corporate Murica for doing? Hypocrit!!!

     • Yoda, Yoda, Yoda…you are forgetting the most basic principle of liberalism, from George Soros on down to the smallest of liberal small fry:

       “Taxes for thee, but not for me!”

       • They made this cut based on trends, not an appeal by me. Also, your boogey man Obama doesnt levy property taxes. Your post is idiotic.

       • Wow you really thrashed the heck out of that strawman. So what would you say to the phrase, welfare and socialism for GOP donors (the rich and their coroporations), and capitalism for everybody else?

       • I would say that a liberal mom’s basement dweller claiming graduate degrees in economics and finance who can’t even spell “corporation” correctly has some severe credibility problems.

         • Be careful critiquing internet message board spelling too heavily. This is not a damn research paper and today’s devices auto correct things incorrectly. You knew what he meant.

2. Obama’s policies are ensuring the US is not the world’s lone superpower.

   • Czar Vlad took the measure of Emperor No-Hopey and his Grand Vizier Lurch Kerry. Admittedly, it required an electron microscope to get those wee dimensions.

     You have to wonder why No-Hopey and Lurch are even bothering to wave a limp wrist in Vlad’s direction. The doctrine of “national self-determination” unleashed by the incorrigibly racist Democrat Woodrow Wilson would seem to require that everyone stand aside while Vlad gobbles up areas with a majority of ethnic Russians. No-Hopey and his Racist-General, Eric Holder, have dedicated their careers to racial carve-outs and special treatment. Why are they mewling when their party’s and their own ideology are implemented by Czar Vlad?

3. I keep lowering my assessment of Toad all the time, too.

   • Too clever.

4. Sounds like someone is related to the County Assessor.

   • I’m playing devil’s advocate. I don’t even know the guy and don’t give a rat’s ass about him. They justifiably lowered my asessment without an appeal, though I did successfully appeal a few years ago.

5. I have been neck deep in looking for a home and it is most evident that Vanderburgh assessments have not changed an iota (on the whole) over this last 5 years of lagging and reducing market values.

   Warrick county on the other hand, shows a consistent across the board reflection of the market in the year to year assessed value trends.

   The Assessors office in Vanderburgh County needs to inundated with appeals !

   • “The Assessors office in Vanderburgh County needs to inundated with appeals !”

     AB-SO-LUTELY!!!!

6. A property tax increase of 9 – 11% is really ridiculous! Anybody with more than a 2% increase should appeal.
   It’s a shame about Hoosier Hysteria ending so early this season, but I’m cheering for Louisville.
   On the situation in Crimea, I’m wondering what the critics of the President think we should do. Should we bomb Crimea, or maybe we could drone the Kremlin? I don’t think sending the Seals after Vlad would work. Granted, the sanctions are not a very strong statement, but what do people think we should do?
   I really don’t want to start WW III, and I don’t think many other people do, either. If course, they do have WMD, and that seems justification for killing a lot of people, including our own troops.

   • Exactly. Im wondering what these howlers and yoda morons are suggesting we do. Invade Russia?

     • Your 9:24 post clearly states that you initiated an appeal which puts you right there with Romney dude. What did I ever post about Russia?

       • You replied to the wrong post then. The recent decrease was unsolicited.

         • Both statements were in the same post.

   • We are frustrated that the USA has become so weak that folks like Putin feel empowered enough to embark on imperialistic expansions. We know we can’t do anything and don’t like it. Until Obama, no Russian would have had the nerve to annex anything by force. No we do not want to start WW3 because we would likely lose, but the reality is that the Russians just did and we are too weakened to even honor our treaties. By the way we do have a defense treaty with Ukraine that we will not honor and probably cannot enforce. We can continue to be offended and withhold some cash but that is pretty impotent. Like the guy wrote, Obama has magically turned the USA into France. What will you suggest in a couple of weeks when Putin sends the tanks into Kiev. It is coming. Then his next move is anyone’s guess. When your opponent is weak there is no reason to stop with Ukraine and Crimea.

     • The invasion of Ukraine started Saturday when the Russians launched an assault from Crimea to take over a natural gas plant on the Ukrainian mainland. This happened under Carter (weak and progressive) when the USSR sensed weakness and invaded Afghanistan. This latest Russian annexation binge will not stop as long as Barack Obama is the President. All we will do is mutter about these moves being illegal under international law. Be assured that the Chinese are watching this closely.

       • What, specifically, would Romney be doing differently that would thwart this Russian aggression?

         • The Russian agression is the result of a history of our President proving to be weak. Hot mic moments like when Obama was telling Putin that he would have more flexibility after the election tells me that Obama is showing his cards in an inferior fashion. Obama’s “red line” demands that were disregarded by Assad without any repecrussions shows that Obama will not follow through on his threats. The fact that Obama, Hillary and others watched four members of our government be killed in a terrorist attacks proves that there are very few things that will ever make Obama act as Commander-in-Chief and put the world’s most powerful armed forces into action. It’s bad enough that we have lost our educational edge over the last 30+ years. We have seen our economical strentgh lessen over the last 10 years. Now the worldwide reputation of our military strength is be minimized by a President that does not have the testicular fortitude to ever put our military into action. He’d rather play golf, vacation or make funny videos with Zach Galifianakis trying to promote a program that we have known would not work from the introduction of the bill. Russia is not the bear that they were in the 80’s. Their military strength is but a fraction of what it used to be. In the 80’s, Reagan not only stood his ground but advanced his position against the Soviet Union. Now we have a toothless Russian bear and Obama is reluctant to act. It’s a shame.

         • Again, be specific. Should we invade Russia?

         • You’re missing my point…It’s not a matter of if we should. If we had a President that had a backbone, we would not need to. Did we need to put boots on the ground to win the Cold War? Our President is so out of the loop that he mocked Romney for stressing the importance of curbing Russia. Now look at what we have to deal with. Remember in 2008 when Joe Biden said something about other countries testing Obama? Well they have and he has failed miserably.

         • As I am not Romney, I have no idea what he would have done. Perhaps he would have put the United States back on a path to strength which would have kept the schoolyard bully Putin afraid of the consequences of aggressive imperialism. Perhaps not. We will never know as the 2nd term for Obama has so far demonstrated complete ineptness at home and utter cowardice abroad. After all who would be afraid of someone who can’t even make a website in three years? Obama has dumbed-down and weakened this country like no foreign enemy could have. Shoot, if a foreign government did to us what Obama has we would probably nuke them. But, he is our savior to be protected at all costs so get ready for a faster drift to mediocrity. Putin of course will just keep acting like our President is nothing but a pooo-see.

         • @ PD:
           Maybe you don’t realize that we lost in Viet Nam and we didn’t look too good in Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither of the countries involved are what they used to be. It was Dubya that nearly bankrupted the country. Without the nostalgia for what used to be, what would you do? Do you think we should invade?

         • elkaybee, we most certainly did not lose in Vietnam. As for all three conflicts mentioned, we fought in a non-traditional war against an opponent that fought outside of the restrictions from the Geneva Convention. We did the honorable thing and fought with limitations. We could not repeat the tactics that we used with Japan, so we fought in a situation where there will never be a clear winner.

           I don’t think there is a sensible person that believes that we should “invade”. The best way to handle it is with diplomacy that is reaffirmed with the perceived threat of military action. We can not ever achieve this type of diplomacy because the entire world knows that Obama will NEVER enter into an armed conflict. He’s an empty suit.

     • From a well thought out article in USA Today by Ron Paul today that I totally agree with….. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/03/17/crimea-ukraine-russia-ron-paul-editorials-debates/6544163/

       “Why does the U.S. care which flag will be hoisted on a small piece of land thousands of miles away?

       Critics point to the Russian “occupation” of Crimea as evidence that no fair vote could have taken place. Where were these people when an election held in an Iraq occupied by U.S. troops was called a “triumph of democracy”?

       Perhaps the U.S. officials who supported the unconstitutional overthrow of Ukraine’s government should refocus their energies on learning our own Constitution, which does not allow the U.S. government to overthrow governments overseas or send a billion dollars to bail out Ukraine and its international creditors.

       Though the Obama administration has applied some minimal sanctions on selected Russian and Crimean individuals, neither the U.S. nor the EU can afford significant sanctions against Russia. Global trade provides too much economic benefit to both sides.”

   • “Of course”, not “If course”.

7. Do you know how assessment is determined?

   https://www.agecon.purdue.edu/crd/localgov/Topics/Essays/Prop_Tax_Assessment_Policy.html

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   • Do you remember when?

     http://youtu.be/lZmqvqC6ahc

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     • Good video, I like that guy and he is spot on.

     • Video

       Part: 2

       http://youtu.be/lFaeKqIjfS4

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8. I just purchased a home last July on the far east side. My home’s assessed value was increased by 15.7% while no other house on my street was increased. There has been no improvements made to my house either. I filed an appeal the day I received my notice.

   • The Indiana Constitution mandates market value assessments. Your assessment at this point should be exactly what you paid for the house since you have made no improvements. How do your assessment and what you paid compare? That should guide your decision on filing an appeal.

     • Are you saying that homes are never sold under market value?

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       • Market value is defined as the price that an asset would bring in a public auction. Unless there are relatives involved, a realtor’s listing that results in the sale of a property is by definition “market value”.

         • Not just “relatives”, perhaps a friend or business associate who might restore the lost value to you via some other method in the future.

           That is why, if it is at all possible, the property in question is “compared” to other “similar” properties that have sold in the area.

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         • In any event, it is a simple matter for one to check what a property sold for in the recent past and then check to see what the assessment the Vanderburgh County Assessor placed on that property.

           I can assure you that many are assessed far below their previous sale price. It could be that such situations are corrected the next time the property is assessed, but that does not appear to always be the case.

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         • Like Bill Styring says in the above video: “Market value? What? I do not know what it is, but it is NOT market value!”

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9. The current federal administration needs to adopt a more realistic stance on the recent developments in Crimea. But that requires a more realistic understanding of Crimean history.

   It also would require a more realistic understanding of just how dangerous the administration’s current stance will be with regard to the U.S. stock market, not to mention our foreign relations in the Middle East.

   Also consider how convenient for Obama that the situation in Crimea has distracted attention from his failure to follow through with his promised reaction to the ongoing genocide in Syria. And don’t think Putin didn’t consider that his incursion into Crimea would have direct political benefits for his allies in Iran and Syria.

   Finally, when trying to predict a political winner in this conglomerated heap of international donkey dung, one has to consider the tactical savvy ratio between a Soviet KGB operative and a Chicago Neighborhood Organizer.

   • What do you suggest that the US should do? Is that “conspiracy theory” taken from the latest Alex Jones idiocy, or did you think it up on your own?

     • I don’t know who Alex Jones is. I do know the history of Crimea and the strategic importance that Crimea holds for Russia. But I am by no means in any way, shape or form a sympathizer or apologist for Russia. My Jewish paternal grandmother came from the Ukraine, and her Jewish husband (my paternal grandfather} was born in Lithuania. Both immigrated to the U.S. to escape Russian imperialism. My mother’s family all came from Poland. So, I’m sure you can see I am not a Russophile.

       My point is that Putin’s apparent goal is to re-expand the Russian Empire long term, and in the short term to secure Russia’s ice-free access to the Mediterranean via the Black Sea. Side issues such as Putin’s alliances with dictatorships in Iran and Syria are just a convenient plus for those pigs.

       Obama has no clue of strategic international affairs, and his security advisors are a mix of gray headed hawks or lame, liberal nitwits like John Kerry. He also is heavily influenced by international corporatists who have an eye on the Central Asian natural gas reserves.

   • What concerns me the most about this is the blatant disregard of the American government’s position on the world matters. It seems like in the past we were always one that everyone looked to for guidance and direction. In the past if we levied sanctions, others followed. No one would dare to cross us. Now we have “allies” that disregard our position and carry on working against us with our enemies. How much did we spend and how many lives did we lose so Iraq can now by weapons from our mutual enemy, Iran? Liberals have such an issue with the phrase, “American Exceptionalism”, and they try everything that they can to make sure that we are not exceptional. That includes weakening our military reputation around the world.

10. Are you really surprised they tried to slip this one past? Especially after a 2 million dollar budget shortfall, mainly because of lack of business property taxes?

    • I also find it a little funny that neither the Courier and Press or Channel 14 have reported these property tax increases.

11. I filed this form last year when the property value of a home I owned near U of E went up higher than I could even sell this home for and NEVER hear a word back!!!

12. Editor, thank you for putting up a poll that I can answer. Both candidates were at this weekend’s PC training. A lot of the PCs had never met or heard of John Montrastelle, but he received a warm welcome and he did a good job of telling his story and what he wishes to bring to County Council. This should be an interesting race. Luckily I can’t vote for it, so I don’t have to choose between the two gentlemen. I just wish both of them good luck.

13. I called the assessor’s office today and learned how form 130 should be completed. Then I spent a bit of time looking for comps for our property. I saw selling prices all over the map and valuations the same. It takes a little while to build your case but I believe it is time well spent. I also plan to follow up. I think that is critical. To have raised market values in this time frame is fast play from government.

14. Ever wonder how many US Congressmen own assets in Russia?

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