Week 4 - Article Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 4 - Article Review - Essay Example The officials with DTI argue that these 31 properties should be tax-exempt because they are currently vacant or they are obsolete and cannot be used for business purposes in their current state. The total tax on these properties comes to a total of around $200,000. In other words, it is almost as if the state of Michigan and the city of Kalamazoo are punishing DTI for purchasing these properties on their behalf and for the betterment of the city, which the owners of DTI claim they may not have purchased these properties otherwise. Later in the article, the president of the company, Ken Nacci goes on to claim that the company would even be happy to pay taxes if the property values of the 31 sites are reduced so that the company does not have to pay such high taxes on properties that are clearly not worth their current value. DTI argues in their claim that the property values are roughly near $1.13 million while the city of Kalamazoo claims their values are more than three times that much. Regardless, the dispute that has been filed with the Michigan Tax Tribunal could result in a turnaround of returned taxes, plus interest to the company if they rule in favor of DTI and DKI. Unfortunately for DTI and DKI, the tribunal is so far backed up that it cannot hear the case for up to several years before a ruling can be made. For now, the company must pay the taxes but if, several years from now, the dispute is heard and ruled in favor of the company, they could be looking at a refund of millions of dollars in paid ta xes plus additional interest on the properties. The legal issue at hand is that the company, DKI, owns 31 real properties in the city of Kalamazoo. The company owns the properties, but purchased them on behalf of the city, which could be argued that in fact the city owns the properties. Therefore, there are several issues such as whether the property is person