Hughes Corp. asks court to cut property taxes

The Howard Hughes Corp. has filed a petition for judicial review seeking to cut the taxable value of thousands of acres it owns in the Las Vegas valley by more than $50 million.

The four parcels of land in the western part of the valley make up the largest remaining undeveloped portion of the Summerlin development - 5,541 acres in all.

The Clark County assessor's office set the total taxable value of the land at $249.3 million. On appeal to the Clark County Board of Equalization, that value was cut to $149.7 million.

But the assessor's office appealed to the State Board of Equalization, which raised the taxable value of the property to $200 million.

Hughes Corp. lawyers objected, seeking judicial review and arguing that the state board decision was "clearly erroneous, arbitrary, capricious and characterized by abuse of discretion."

The petition argues that the decision to raise the value to a flat $200 million was improper "because it was not based upon substantial evidence." It says one of the state board members just suggested they split the difference and value the land at $200 million, which they argue isn't a valid method of determining land values for tax purposes.

The petition asks the court to drop the land's taxable value back to the $149.3 million set by the Clark County Board of Equalization.