Consider when JP Morgan Chase merged with moribund Washington Mutual Bank in a $1.9 billionbuyout in 2008. Chase, the new owner, added more than 2,000 WaMu locations to its portfolio. Now, if those banks were homes, and you were the new owner, you could rest assured the property would be reassessed by the county assessor and then taxed accordingly. But very few of Chase’s new properties have been reassessed, according to the report – including the bank at 1455 Baker Street in Costa Mesa, which was last reassessed in 1998.
Want to learn more, read Chris Knap's special report from April 2004! He lists several case studies that embarrass some of the wealthiest corporations in California.
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