New Jersey - Spot Assessments Illegally Inflate Taxes

A procedure called spot assessment is illegal in the state of New Jersey . This is an assessment practice where newly sold properties are reassessed predicated on their sales prices, while all other properties in the community remain at the prior assessments. The practice results in setting assessments in a community at differing levels based on when properties were sold.

The New Jersey constitution demands uniformity of taxation. Spot assessment violates that provision. The only time a property should be reassessed is when it has physically changed or when there is a municipality-wide revaluation program. Any other attempt to reassess real property on an individual basis violates the law.