Rising Property Taxes, Subsidized Housing Loopholes, and Media Framing Exposed

On this August 14, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson tackles the pressing issue of skyrocketing property taxes in Colorado with Douglas County Assessor Toby Damisch, who reveals that residential assessments increased 30 to 60 percent statewide. In the second hour, Real Clear Investigations editor Peder Zane dissects how the New York Times frames coverage of Biden family scandals to minimize their impact on readers.

Property Tax Crisis Hits Colorado Homeowners

Start listening at 36:02 – Hour 1

Toby Damisch, Douglas County Assessor, breaks down why property owners across Colorado are seeing unprecedented increases in their assessments. The state conducted a mandatory reappraisal in 2023, moving assessment dates from June 2020 to June 2022, a period that saw the largest increase in residential real estate values in Colorado history.

Damisch explains that Douglas County homeowners saw median increases of 47 percent, with the average property value jumping from approximately $550,000 to $780,000. Without intervention from local taxing authorities to lower mill levies, these assessment increases could translate to 42 percent higher tax bills. He notes that 36,000 Douglas County residents, one in four homeowners, filed appeals on their assessments this year.

The discussion reveals troubling loopholes in property tax law. For-profit developers partnering with local housing authorities can secure complete property tax exemptions on multimillion-dollar affordable housing projects with equity stakes as small as a fraction of one percent. These exempt properties still consume local services like schools, fire, and police, shifting the tax burden onto other property owners.

“Kim, we’ve never had, for example, 10,000 protests occur at Douglas County. We’ve not even reached that number. And this year we had 36,000.”

Toby Damisch, Douglas County Assessor

How Media Framing Shapes Political Narratives

Start listening at 78:23 – Hour 2

Peder Zane, editor for Real Clear Investigations, dissects his recent column analyzing how the New York Times reported on Devin Archer’s congressional testimony regarding the Biden family’s business dealings. While the Times included damaging facts confirming that Joe Biden participated in at least 20 phone calls during Hunter’s business meetings, the newspaper’s framing minimized their impact.

Zane explains the technique of burying significant information beneath headlines and lead paragraphs that emphasize Republican failures rather than Biden’s contradictions. He notes that despite admitting Biden had been present on calls with foreign business associates, the Times structured the article so readers would conclude nothing significant happened. This primacy effect, putting the desired conclusion first, shapes reader perception before they encounter contradictory evidence.

The conversation extends to broader patterns in media coverage, from COVID-19 policy to the Hunter Biden laptop story that 51 intelligence officials dismissed as Russian disinformation without evidence. Zane argues these patterns reveal systematic narrative management rather than objective reporting, making it essential for news consumers to analyze not just what outlets report but how they present information.

“By the time you got to that information, they had so set the reader up to think that nothing happened, that the Republicans had failed to prove the case, that then when you see they did prove the case, it doesn’t convince you that he’s done anything wrong.”

Peder Zane, Editor, Real Clear Investigations