...and it looks like Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terrence Wall has yet another property in Middleton that he's had zoned as agricultural in order to avoid paying his fair share of property taxes. The parcel in question is part of Wall's Tribeca Village LLC. In 2008 the parcel in question was classified as commercial and had an assessed value of $1,202,400. Wall paid $20,660.85 in property taxes on that parcel, but after having the parcel reclassified as agricultural, its assessed value plummeted to $700, resulting in a property tax bill of just $12.88 in 2009.
Terrence Wall has been able to rezone his commercial properties into agricultural properties (thus avoiding paying his fair share of property taxes) thanks to the use value law, a law put into place to protect and preserve agricultural land from overdevelopment. It's a loophole Wall is all too familiar with, having used the loophole in the past to avoid paying over $111,000 in property taxes for other parcels Wall owns in Middleton. Clearly Terrence Wall's use of the use value law isn't illegal, but his use of the law to avoid paying his fair share of property taxes for the properties his company owns shows that Terrence Wall the multimillionaire shares little in common with many of the citizens he aspires to represent, as those folks will most certainly have to pay their fair share of property taxes before the end of the year.
If you'd like to see a running tally of all the taxes Terrence Wall has avoided paying thanks to the loopholes he's taken advantage of, click the Terrence Wall tax loophole tracker on the right.
To date, Terrence Wall has avoided paying over $131,000 in property taxes...it's just too bad we're not all able to avoid paying our property taxes our taxes like him!