The following post was submitted by Patricia Finn:
The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled on June 13, 2006 that the Eaves Movie ranch, home of the famous Thirsty Ear Music Festival 2006 set location for DreamWorks' "Into The West," had an actual value of zero
2.2 million dollar piece of property was correctly valued by Judge Wendy York (of "York Gate"/Ralph Nadar fame) at an actual value nothing; zero, zip, nada, nothing!
DreamWorks filmed "Into The West" at the ranch 18 months ago and the Thirsty Ear Music Festival 2006 is always held there. In fact, the property has seen regular use for private parties, including fundraisers for Gov. Richardson.
However, a highly qualified movie set valuator, Ben Zeller (Wyatt Earp, Man on Fire), says the ranch is worth $2.2 million. So how can a property and movie set be worth nothing?
Mel Eaves, a prominent Abq. lawyer and UNM Regent and $10,000 contributor to Gov. Richardson's last campaign owns the ranch. Eaves inherited the ranch after his father died.
The property is currently in probate.
Any normal citizen of NM would be hit with huge property taxes and inheritance tax.
Is this a ploy so that Eaves virtually pays no taxes?
Is Mel Eaves so well connected/special that he is exempt from tax and a fair valuation by the courts?
How will this affect the motion picture industry in New Mexico in the long run?
http://www.eavesmovieranch.com/
Technorati Tags: Blogs, corruption, Elections, film, New Mexico, Politics, reform
Comments