High court hears Wal-Mart tax case

Wal-Mart wants a tax cut in Florida, and the giant retailer has spent years and big bucks to get it.

Tuesday, after four years and more than a dozen lawsuits against state property appraisers, one of Wal-Mart's cases finally worked its way to the Florida Supreme Court.

Justices heard arguments on a seemingly small, but pivotal, portion of the retailer's case against Hernando County Property Appraiser Alvin Mazourek. Wal-Mart's attorneys argued that the sales taxes it pays to buy its store equipment should not be included in its value for tax purposes.

Attorneys for Mazourek, who is supported by a number of other property appraisers, argued that sales tax is a cost of purchasing equipment and should be included in the assessment process.

If the Supreme Court agrees with Wal-Mart, property appraisers across the state would have to reduce the value of tangible property -- everything from shelving to computers -- of all businesses. They also would have to refund Wal-Mart, and other retailers who sued in its wake, for taxes paid on the sales tax during the past few years.

No one seems to have come up with a total dollar value of the impact.

"But I can assure you (the impact) would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars in property value across the state, and it would be in the millions (in revenue), there is no question," said Pasco County Property Appraiser Mike Wells, who is one of at least 16 property appraisers sued by the retailer.

If Wal-Mart wins, homeowners ultimately could see higher property tax bills. Counties, faced with lower revenues, could decide to raise tax rates across the board to make up for the loss.

And that doesn't include the cost to taxpayers for defending the lawsuits.

Wal-Mart began challenging property appraisers' tangible property assessments in 1997.

Pinellas County reduced its assessments in the face of Wal-Mart's challenges, avoiding a lawsuit. Locally, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Sarasota property appraisers were sued.

At the heart of Wal-Mart's argument was the way property appraisers traditionally decide how much store equipment is worth. Each year the stores tell the counties how much they paid for the equipment, including sales tax, then the county uses a table put out by the Florida Department of Revenue to determine how much it is worth at the time. The retailer is taxed on that number.

Wal-Mart also has contended in its lawsuits that its equipment should be valued not for its worth in its stores, but for the lesser amount it would bring if the stores were liquidated and the used equipment were sold on the open market.

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