Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1995 NO. 5 >

1.  Article 7 of the Washington State Constitution does not require that property subject to ad valorem property tax be assessed at 100 per cent of true and fair value.    2.  The State Constitution imposes three requirements on the assessment of property subject to ad valorem property tax:  (1) any tax must be uniform, as to any class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax; (2) the valuation system must be administered in a systematic, non-discriminatory manner; and, (3) the aggregate of all taxes levied upon real and personal property by the state and all taxing districts must not, in any year, exceed one per cent of true and fair value of each property.

AGO 1953 NO. 29 >

The interest of private contract vendees in standing timber situated upon tribal and allotted lands within the Colville Indian Reservation is taxable by Okanogan County as personal property.The value for tax purposes of the vendees' interest in said executory contracts may be determined by reference to Property Tax Bulletin No. 175.

AGO 1965 NO. 65 >

The "true and fair value of property in money" for property tax valuation purposes is its market value or the amount of money a buyer willing, but not obligated to buy would pay for it to a seller willing, but not obligated to sell.  In arriving at a determination of such value the assessing officer can consider only those factors which can within reason be said to affect the price in negotiations between a willing purchaser and a willing seller, and he must consider all of such factors.