• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Crime / Courts / Iowa Supreme Court upholds ruling on taxing apartments

Iowa Supreme Court upholds ruling on taxing apartments

October 24, 2008 By admin

The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a district court ruling that says apartment buildings and condominiums can be taxed differently. Timberland Partners, a company that owns several residential apartment buildings, filed suit saying the Iowa Department of Revenue’s code breaks the equal protection clause of the Iowa constitution.

The company says the code classifies apartment buildings as commercial property, regardless of their use, but classifies condominiums as commercial if used for a commercial venture and residential if used for human habitation.

Timberland wants to have its apartment buildings taxed as residential because residential properties are taxed at a much lower percentage of their assessed value than commercial properties. Timberland argued the market characteristics of the two buildings "are so similar as to be virtually identical," because both compete for the same occupants.

The Supreme Court rule that any similarities between apartments and condominiums are insufficient to consider them "similarly situated" for equal protection analysis. Although condominiums may be marketed and leased like apartments and are similar in structural design and in the rules applied to residents, unlike apartments, each condominium unit is treated as a separate real estate parcel and could be marketed as a single-family unit.

And individual ownership rights of condominium owners, are unlike an apartment tenant, as they rights that include the right to participate in the management and operation of the unit or complex.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Crime / Courts Tagged With: Taxes

Featured Stories

Congresswoman Axne favors Biden pandemic relief plan, Hinson not ruling out a ‘yes’

DOT plow crews struggling against blizzard conditions

Death penalty proposed for specific child murder cases

Iowa delegation breaks along party lines on Trump impeachment vote

Two northeast Iowa men admit to illegally harvesting ginseng

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa State-Kansas postponed

Iowa-Michigan State postponed

Fire damage to Riverfront Stadium electrical system will cost Waterloo thousands

Iowa State at Kansas State postponed

Iowa State’s Foster to miss remainder of the season

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2021 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC