YOU WON'T BELIEVE: What the rich pay in CoMo/Boone County property taxes
- Details
-
08 May 2019
- Published Date
- Written by Heart Beat staff
COLUMBIA, Mo 5/8/19 (Feature) -- "Let me tell you about the very rich," the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald said. "They are different from you and me."
Nowhere is that more true than at property tax reassessment time, when the rich pay about what they always have while you and I pay more -- sometimes, a lot more. About 44,000 Boone County residents will pay an average eight percent more in property taxes this year, the Columbia Missourian reported.
But many of the county's richest people won't pay more, County Assessor records show. They also get a prime tax dodge called the "fake farmland assessment rate" for pricey development property the law says should pay tax at the much higher commercial rate if it's not actually farmed.
With breaks like these, regardless how many school district levy hikes or tax reassessments, the rich still pay a whole lot less.
Pictured above is 133 acres billionaire Wal-Mart heirs Stan and Ann Kroenke paid $1.9 million for 20 years ago. (Click pic for larger). Across from Mill Creek Elementary School and their estate on Nifong in Columbia, the land was stubbed in for development -- sewer, cable, gas, water, power -- years ago. In 2015, the Kroenkes paid $347 in Boone County property taxes on it.
In 2018, they paid a whopping $42 more.
We collected dozens of property tax bills for some of Boone County's richest, most prominent citizens, many of them developers. This writer pays more property tax for my old pickup truck than most of these wealthy landowners pay for acres of prime land with and without buildings in and around Columbia.
Click the links to read the bills, the location of each parcel, and other details.
Kroenke
Stan and Ann Kroenke
8 acres on Sinclair Rd.
2015 Assessed value: $4,560
2019 Assessed value: $4,560
TKG COLUMBIA SQUARE LLC
ALL 15 PARCELS known as Hilton Plat 5
(Classified as farmland)
2018 Property tax: $13,665.70
Nancy Laurie aboard her new $200 million yacht
Waters
Smith
Nowhere is that more true than at property tax reassessment time, when the rich pay about what they always have while you and I pay more -- sometimes, a lot more. About 44,000 Boone County residents will pay an average eight percent more in property taxes this year, the Columbia Missourian reported.
But many of the county's richest people won't pay more, County Assessor records show. They also get a prime tax dodge called the "fake farmland assessment rate" for pricey development property the law says should pay tax at the much higher commercial rate if it's not actually farmed.
With breaks like these, regardless how many school district levy hikes or tax reassessments, the rich still pay a whole lot less.
Pictured above is 133 acres billionaire Wal-Mart heirs Stan and Ann Kroenke paid $1.9 million for 20 years ago. (Click pic for larger). Across from Mill Creek Elementary School and their estate on Nifong in Columbia, the land was stubbed in for development -- sewer, cable, gas, water, power -- years ago. In 2015, the Kroenkes paid $347 in Boone County property taxes on it.
In 2018, they paid a whopping $42 more.
We collected dozens of property tax bills for some of Boone County's richest, most prominent citizens, many of them developers. This writer pays more property tax for my old pickup truck than most of these wealthy landowners pay for acres of prime land with and without buildings in and around Columbia.
Click the links to read the bills, the location of each parcel, and other details.
Stan and Ann Kroenke
Billionaire Wal-Mart Heirs
133 acres across from Mill Creek Elementary
2015 Assessed Value : $5,336
2019 Assessed Value, : $5,336
2018 Property Tax: $382.92
Billionaire Wal-Mart Heirs
133 acres across from Mill Creek Elementary
2015 Assessed Value : $5,336
2019 Assessed Value, : $5,336
2018 Property Tax: $382.92
(parcel pictured above; click pic for larger)
Stan and Ann Kroenke
3.04 acres on Sinclair Road
2015 Assessed value: $380
2019 Assessed value: $380
3.04 acres on Sinclair Road
2015 Assessed value: $380
2019 Assessed value: $380

Stan and Ann Kroenke
8 acres on Sinclair Rd.
2015 Assessed value: $4,560
2019 Assessed value: $4,560
2019 Assessed value: $817
TKG COLUMBIA SQUARE LLC
(The Kroenke Group)
Developer
77.2 acres on I70 Dr. SW
(The Kroenke Group)
Developer
77.2 acres on I70 Dr. SW
2015 Assessed value: $1,504
2019 Assessed value: $1,504
2019 Assessed value: $1,504
2015 Assessed value: $260
2019 Assessed value: $260
2019 Assessed value: $260
TKG COLUMBIA SQUARE LLC
(Classified as farmland)
2018 Property tax: $13,665.70
Elvin E. Sapp
Developer
4.42 acres on Rt. E
4.42 acres on Rt. E
2015 Assessed value: $91
2019 Assessed Value: $91
Elvin E. Sapp
Developer
2 acres w/barn on Rt. E
2 acres w/barn on Rt. E
2015 Assessed Value: $1,172
2019 Assessed Value: $1,172
2019 Assessed Value: $1,172
Bill and Nancy Laurie
Billionaire Wal-Mart Heirs
Billionaire Wal-Mart Heirs
Crown Center Farm
2015 Assessed Value: $1,110
2019 Assessed Value: $1,110
2019 Assessed Value: $1,110
Bill and Nancy Laurie
Crown Center Farm
Crown Center Farm
2015 Assessed value: $266
2019 Assessed Value: $266
2019 Assessed Value: $266

Bill and Nancy Laurie
Crown Center Farm
Crown Center Farm
2015 Assessed value: $21,271
2019 Assessed Value: $21,271
2018 Property Tax: $1,526.462019 Assessed Value: $21,271
Bill and Nancy Laurie
Crown Center Farm
Crown Center Farm
All Listed Boone County Holdings
(428.5 acres and five houses)
2018 Property Tax: $17,576.09
(428.5 acres and five houses)
2018 Property Tax: $17,576.09

Hank Waters
Retired Columbia Tribune owner
14.9 acres on E. Deer Park Road
Retired Columbia Tribune owner
14.9 acres on E. Deer Park Road
2015 Assessed value: $259
2019 Assessed value: $259
Jeffrey E. Smith Investment Company
Developer
NORTH HAMPTON WOODS, PLAT 1, LOTS 1 thru 26
Developer
NORTH HAMPTON WOODS, PLAT 1, LOTS 1 thru 26
(Lots classed as farmland)
2015 Assessed value, each lot: $360
2015 Assessed value, each lot: $360
2019 Assessed Value, each lot: 360
2018 Property Tax, each lot: $22.10Jeffrey E. Smith
Developer
164 acres on E. Rock Bridge Lane
Developer
164 acres on E. Rock Bridge Lane
2015 Assessed value: $4,201
2019 Assessed value: $4,201
2019 Assessed value: $4,201

Jeffrey E. Smith
2015 Assessed value: $289
2019 Assessed value: $289
Michael J. Martin
2006 Ford F 150 Pickup Truck (with body rust)
2006 Ford F 150 Pickup Truck (with body rust)
2018 Assessed value: $2,967.00
2018 Property Tax: $212.92