TAMPA Big landowners could shift some of their property tax burden to smaller landowners if new rules from Florida's tax agency stand, according to a new lawsuit signed by dozens of Florida property appraisers.

Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Rob Turner filed a lawsuit last month to block the Florida Department of Revenue from enacting the new rules. Nearly all property appraisers in Florida have since joined the suit, either individually or through industry groups.

The biggest winners appear to be tax representatives, experts who help companies lower their property tax bills for a fee, said Will Shepherd, a lawyer in Turner's office. The state agency drew up the new rules before Gov. Rick Scott took office, so they do not appear to be the new governor's work, he said.

"It suddenly seems like the tax reps took over the Department of Revenue," Shepherd said.

A recent wedding between the head of the Department of Revenue, Lisa Vickers, and a well-known tax attorney who has represented big companies against the Department of Revenue could cloud the issue.

Turner's suit delves into the complicated way that property appraisers value Florida property, and the way taxpayers challenge them. If someone thinks he's gotten an inflated appraisal, he can challenge it with his county's "value adjustment board," a body that rules in disputes between taxpayer and appraiser.

Turner suggests the Department of Revenue suddenly gave big taxpayers the upper hand.

Technically, any property owner could benefit from the new rules. But, Turner says normally only big landowners bother with the value adjustment board process, because it's not financially worthwhile unless large property tax bills are at stake.

For example, a homeowner with a $150,000 home might find it a waste of time and money to quibble over a few hundred dollars in property taxes. But the owner of a $30 million property might be fighting over thousands in taxes.

Among the revenue department's changes, taxpayers would be free to withhold certain information from the local property appraiser, Shepherd said. Until now, taxpayers had to turn over their evidence that an appraisal was flawed at least 15 days before the value adjustment board hearing.

But, the new rules say taxpayers don't have to provide their evidence in advance and can present it for the first time to a "special magistrate," an unbiased party who makes an initial ruling in the value adjustment board process.

Shepherd said property appraisers now might get blindsided with evidence they've never seen.

Vickers, the Department of Revenue executive director, said her staff read the Florida statute and determined the Legislature didn't mean for the exchange of evidence between taxpayer and property appraiser to be mandatory.

Another similar rule change would let the owners of shopping centers, hotels and other commercial properties withhold certain income and expense information on their properties.

In the past, landowners who withheld such information from the property appraiser were barred from using it later to challenge their appraisal. But, the new rules will allow them to do so without penalty, Shepherd said.

Finally, a new rule concerning the definition of a property's fair market value could knock 15 percent off of a landowner's appraisal, Shepherd said.

Local governments that rely on property taxes could take a financial hit from the new rules, said John Dent, a Sarasota lawyer who's representing property appraisers in Alachua, Monroe and Okaloosa counties in the lawsuit. Smaller landowners who can't afford to exploit the same rules would pick up the tax burden that bigger landowners eliminate, Dent said

"If you have a number of these that happen, you'll have an impact on the (tax) rolls," Dent said.

Vickers said she doesn't expect a significant impact on county tax rolls, and the new rules should result in appraisals that are fairer for everyone.

"Taxpayers shouldn't pay any more or any less than they're legally obligated to pay," she said.

Vickers said the Florida Legislature asked her agency to come up with a set of rules that applied to everyone, because different counties had different rules for challenging property appraisals. Some people felt the rules weren't fair, she said.

Tax representatives were very vocal in pushing for new rules, she said. But she said the agency didn't craft the rules specifically to benefit them, and, in fact, made some rule changes that tax reps disliked.

Still, her marriage last year to attorney Cass Vickers has raised some eyebrows among property appraisers.

For years, he represented corporations in tax matters, including against the Department of Revenue, although he focused on sales tax rather than property taxes. He declined comment for this article, other than to say he gave up his law practice three years ago and now works for a nonprofit group called the Institute for Professionals in Taxation.

According to its website, IPT educates corporations and taxpayers on tax issues, including seminars on property taxes and tax-saving methods.

Turner, the Hillsborough County appraiser, said the relationship between Lisa and Cass Vickers and the appearance it "concerns us."

Lisa Vickers said she has worked hard to avoid any conflicts of interest regarding her husband since she began dating him years ago. Concern over fairness to taxpayers drove the new rules, not any personal relationships, she said.

"Does the taxpayer concern influence me? Of course it does, and it should," she said.

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