INTERNATIONAL

Why China Doesn't Have a Property Tax
New York Times
Across China, many local governments are on the brink of insolvency. Some cities have reduced pay for civil servants. Cuts to municipal health insurance have triggered street protests. Central government bailouts are a possibility to rescue cities from their deep budget problems, but China hasn't turned to a source of revenue that would be an obvious option in other countries: property taxes.

NATIONAL

Hotel Owners See Demand ‘Firing On All Cylinders' As Corporate Travel Finally Returns
BisNow
Hotel owners and operators are clearing out the final debris from the pandemic-era truck that slammed into the industry. Leisure travel came roaring back in 2021 and 2022 as the health crisis subsided and people booked long-awaited vacations, but the unanswered question that has given hotel executives anxiety over the last year is whether business travel would ever fully return to pre-coronavirus levels. 

Law Firm Leasing Sets First-Quarter Record In 2023
BisNow
The first-quarter uptick comes after a particularly strong 2022 for law firm leasing that saw about 14.6M SF taken nationwide, which was a record itself, and a little ahead of the 2019 national total of 14.2M SF, the report noted. Both 2020 and 2021 represented slumps in law firm leasing, with 10.8M SF and 10.9M SF taken, respectively.

IOWA

Wind Energy/Repowering Project: Iowa Supreme Court Addresses Property Tax Valuation Issue
JDSupra
The Supreme Court of Iowa (“SCT”) addressed in a May 5th Opinion an issue involving valuation of certain wind plants for property tax purposes. See Story County Wind, LLC v. Story County Board of Review, 2023 WL 3260921. The issue involved the appropriate valuation of a project that involved repowering a wind plant in Story County, Iowa.

LOUISIANA

Proposal to force non-profit ‘slumlords' property owners to pay property taxes hits the House floor
Fox8
A proposal to force slumlord non-profit property owners to pay property taxes is debated on the house floor by state lawmakers. Representative Jason Hughes of New Orleans drafted the bill after our Fox 8 Defenders reports highlighted the living conditions at The Willows in New Orleans East, Parc Fontaine in Algiers and the Bellemont in Metairie. 

MICHIGAN

Property taxes set to see biggest jump in nearly 30 years in Washtenaw County
MLive
Washtenaw County property owners may experience a little sticker shock from their tax bills this year. They're expected to see the biggest one-year spike in the taxable value of their properties in nearly 30 years. That means the average homeowner's property taxes are slated to go up 5%.

TENNESSEE

Property assessor eyeing crypto mining values
Crossville Chronicle
Cumberland County Property Assessor Sandy Gilbert expects personal property assessments on two cryptocurrency mining operations to add several million to the county's tax rolls next year. “That alone will bring in a lot,” Gilbert said during a May 5 meeting with the Cumberland County Commission's budget committee. “With what we have, it's over $44 million.”

TEXAS

Life Sciences Conversions Could Be The Next Big Thing To Fix Dallas' Office Vacancy Problem
BisNow
The trend of converting office buildings to apartments has generated a lot of buzz, but a growing need for more lab space in DFW could also present an opportunity to revive defunct real estate. A record number of office-to-lab conversions is underway in the U.S., comprising about a third of the life sciences construction pipeline and 12.5M SF, according to CBRE.

Crowds of Angry Property Owners Storm the Local Appraisal District Office
San Angelo Live
Hundreds of angry Tom Green County property owners bombarded the Tom Green County Appraisal District Office on Thursday during the first meeting of the new Appraisal Review Board.For weeks now, San Angelo LIVE! has reported on the extreme hike in property values in Tom Green County.