I’ll hand it to the folks at One Wisconsin Now: they really know how to do their research. In a press release issued yesterday, the folks at OWN noted Terrence Wall, the Madison-area real estate developer widely rumored to be strongly considering a run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Russ Feingold, has found another way to avoid paying his company’s fair share of taxes:
Wall Land Investment, LLC, one of multi-millionaire Madison developer Terrence Wall’s companies, has reclassified $2 million in prime Dane County commercial real estate into “agriculture” property, which allows the company to eliminate $34,000 in local property taxes. Wall is already under criticism for using a Delaware post “office” box to possibly avoid paying Wisconsin business tax.
As I’ve noted previously, Terrence Wall seems to have a penchant for finding ways to avoid paying taxes, such as setting up 16 dummy corporations in Delaware. Wall’s use (or abuse, depending on your definition) of the use-value property tax classification designed to assist farmers will result in Wall likely paying an estimated $10 in property taxes for the properties in question – a savings of $34,000. As Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now noted, “When the use-value exemption was created, it was to help struggling farmers whose work is the backbone of Wisconsin’s economy. It wasn’t so that multi-millionaires like Terrence Wall and his companies could avoid their tax obligations to the residents of already cash-strapped local communities.”
In honor of Terrence Wall’s pumpkin patch, here’s a little video I put together…
But wait, there’s more. Wall gives the pumpkins to non-profit groups and declares them as tax-deductible charitable donations.
Ha!
Those were some fine pumpkins….Mr. Wall has quite the green thumb!
This use-value issue needs to be resolved, as many developers do this as they wait to develop farmlands into sprawl.
I agree, Dave. It’s a loophole that’s going to continue to get exploited.