While nobody wants to pay taxes, if you happen to be someone who pays millions of dollars in taxes every year, you would probably like to have that recognized.

On Thursday, Dec. 14, the Rhino Times published an article, “County’s Top 10 Taxpayers Make Your Tax Bill Look Cheap.”

The list of the top 10 property taxpayers in Guilford County, from the annual Guilford County audit, left the number two property taxpayer in Guilford County off the list.

It just so happens that following Duke Energy, which owns $709 million worth of property in Guilford County, is The Carroll Companies. The Rhino Times is one of the companies that makes up The Carroll Companies, although the Rhino Times doesn’t account for much of the over $445 million in property that The Carroll Companies owns.

However, that $445 million in property places The Carroll Companies solidly in the number two position on the list of top taxpayers in Guilford County, above Lincoln National Life Insurance at $414 million in assessed value.

The reason The Carroll Companies was not even on the list of the top property owners in Guilford County, which went down to the International Home Furnishings Center at $171 million, is because, as the name indicates, The Carroll Companies is made up of a number of different corporations. To the Guilford County Tax Department, each of those separate corporations is a distinct taxpaying entity, so when you divide The Carroll Companies up into its many corporations, none of those individual corporations paid taxes on enough property to be on the list of the top 10.

However, all of the different corporations that make up The Carroll Companies are run by Founder, President and CEO of The Carroll Companies Roy Carroll.  That means that Carroll is signing all of those checks to the Guilford County Tax Department and is well aware of the tax bill, not just for the individual companies but for The Carroll Companies as a whole.

So, while nobody wants to pay taxes, if you do pay millions in property taxes every year, as Carroll does, you’d hate to be left off the list of the top taxpayers in Guilford County – particularly by a publication you own.