{"id":91704,"date":"2019-11-13T12:03:13","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T12:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/walmart-sues-32-colorado-counties-in-attempt-to-shrink-tax-bills\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T12:03:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T12:03:13","slug":"walmart-sues-32-colorado-counties-in-attempt-to-shrink-tax-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/walmart-sues-32-colorado-counties-in-attempt-to-shrink-tax-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart sues 32 Colorado counties in attempt to shrink tax bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Several
Several times over the years, Walmart has tried to appeal tax valuations made by the La Plata County Assessor\u2019s Office in an effort to shrink its tax bills. The corporate giant has never won an appeal, according to the county assessor.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Walmart has sued just about every county in Colorado where the corporate giant has a store location, an aggressive legal tactic many big-box retailers are taking in an attempt to shrink their property tax bills.<\/p>\n

Every year, Colorado county assessors are tasked with taking inventory of a business\u2019 personal property \u2013 such as furniture, cash registers, refrigerators and equipment used in daily operations \u2013 and determining a value of those items, which are then taxed at a rate that differs with each county.<\/p>\n

This year, Walmart\u2019s parent company, Walmart Stores Inc., filed a protest after taking issue with the values Colorado\u2019s county assessors placed on items in its stores, claiming the items were valued too high. Also included were Walmart Stores Inc.\u2019s Sam\u2019s Club and Neighborhood Market locations.<\/p>\n

But Walmart\u2019s petition was denied in July by the Colorado Board of Equalization, the committee tasked with reviewing assessor protests.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 4, Walmart slapped a lawsuit on 32 counties (Colorado has a total of 64 counties) to reduce the value of its personal property at 95 of its stores, as well as to recoup attorney fees. Included on the list of counties sued were La Plata, Montezuma and Archuleta counties.<\/p>\n

Walmart\u2019s Littleton-based attorney Brian Huebsch declined The Durango Herald<\/em>\u2019s request for comment for this story, saying he doesn\u2019t speak about open cases.<\/p>\n

\"Walmart
Walmart has filed lawsuits in more than 30 Colorado counties in an attempt to shrink its tax bills, claiming county assessors have valued its personal property, such as refrigerators, furniture and other equipment used in daily operations, too high.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Walmart
Walmart says equipment used in daily operations wears out faster because its stores are usually open 24\/7. And once it is time to replace the equipment, the company says there\u2019s less of a market because its competitors are closing, and Amazon and other online retailers are flooding the market.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In its lawsuit, Walmart claims county assessors\u2019 valuations do not accurately reflect the fact its stores are usually open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, causing equipment to wear out faster.<\/p>\n

Also, when the items need to be replaced, Walmart says it is having a harder time reselling them because its retail competitors are closing, reducing the amount of interested buyers. And, Walmart says resale prices have fallen even further because of an oversaturated market thanks to Amazon and other online retailers.<\/p>\n

But Carrie Woodson, La Plata County\u2019s assessor, said she and her staff have never seen evidence of Walmart reselling its equipment after it is replaced, despite years of monitoring the store\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe they just throw it away,\u201d Woodson said.<\/p>\n

Woodson also said Walmart\u2019s story has changed: When the store first filed a complaint with La Plata County, it claimed it was because \u201cbrick and mortar\u201d stores were going out of business, and because of the oversaturated market, its equipment was worth less and less.<\/p>\n

But once the complaint reached the state level, Walmart instead started arguing its items should be priced lower than what county assessors determined because the items wear out faster as a result of the store\u2019s around-the-clock hours, she said.<\/p>\n

How much money Walmart is trying to save is hard to quantify, as the tax rate is different in each county.<\/p>\n

In La Plata County, though, Walmart\u2019s personal property at its single-store location was valued at an estimated $1.9 million in 2019, which results in just over $20,000 in taxes to the county.<\/p>\n

In Archuleta County, Assessor Natalie Woodruff said Walmart\u2019s personal property at its single-store location there was valued at about $1.8 million. Because Archuleta County has a lower tax rate, about $9,700 is paid in taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still wanted to continue on (with the lawsuit),\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cThey don\u2019t think it\u2019s depreciated enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Assessor Leslie Bugg did not return calls seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Pacheco, spokesman for Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, said the state of Colorado is not going to become involved in the statewide lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are county issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County, said it\u2019s likely attorneys for counties across the state will band together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very likely to coordinate with other counties in defending the suit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A report from S&P Global Ratings<\/a> tracked how big-box retailers and corporate giants are increasingly using aggressive legal tactics to cut tax bills, at the cost of local governments.<\/p>\n

Among researchers, the practice has been called the \u201cdark-store theory\u201d \u2013 when a retailer intentionally undervalues its own properties so it can pay less in taxes. The S&P Global Ratings report focused mainly on how the corporations are fighting their property tax values.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it does fit the pattern,\u201d Scott Nees, co-author of the report, said of Walmart\u2019s protest of its personal property. \u201cBig boxes are looking at their property values and how they are assessed, and looking for ways to save a little bit of money on their tax bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to quantify just how much Walmart thinks it\u2019s overpaying and how much communities stand to lose if the lawsuits don\u2019t go their way.<\/p>\n

According to a report in The New York Times in January 2019<\/a>, \u201cIn Michigan, the state association of counties estimated that dark-store appeals reduced local revenue from 2013 to 2017 by $100 million. In Texas, the comptroller said such appeals could end up costing local governments $2.6 billion a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodson said this is not the first time Walmart has challenged the county\u2019s valuations.<\/p>\n

Walmart also protested the valuations of its personal property in the Durango store in 2017 and 1999.<\/p>\n

Walmart protested the value on its store\u2019s property tax value in 2010, 2011, 2017 and this year. In 2019, the value on the Walmart store\u2019s property was about $13.6 million, bringing in about $142,600 in taxes to the county.<\/p>\n

Woodson said Walmart has never won an appeal.<\/p>\n

A previous version of this story erred in saying Walmart sued 31 Colorado counties. It was 32 counties.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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