[Vision2020] taxes

Thu Apr 28 11:35:44 PDT 2005

taxesMark,

Thank you for the perspective and the article.

There is one current local upcoming action that will affect the amount and fairness of the property taxes we pay  --  whoever is appointed to be the new Latah County Assessor.

I hope the new assessor will publicly avow to and scrupulously follow the requirements of Idaho especially in the treatment of all special tax exemptions and so-called non-profits including requiring an annual filing and hearing in order to prove and to maintain these tax exempt/reduction status.  I also hope that the new assessor and the BOE will annually use all methods legally available to them to check the veracity of the claims made by those seeking exemptions and also seek to prosecute those who perjure themselves in this process.

The exemption farce has gone on long enough.  It's bad enough to have many of these exemptions legally available.  It's worst when the dishonest claim tax benefits to which they are not entitled thus shifting the burden to the rest of us.  Its time for all to pay their legally mandated and fair share of the county tax burden.

Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

(208) 882-7975
waf at moscow.com

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mark Solomon 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 6:52 AM
  Subject: [Vision2020] taxes

  Beyond the bond specific issues, the action of the Legislature to shift property tax burdens from industry/ag/timber to homeowners compounded by their deliberate action to de-fund state government, including employees salaries, are (in my opinion) major contributing factors to the bond's defeat. Idaho Statesman political columnist Dan Popkey captures the property tax part well in the following article. Please let us not forget as we discuss the school issues that if the state was living up to its constitutional duty to provide a thorough education for Idaho students the primary motivating factor for people to vote "no" on bond/levy issues, their pocketbooks, would diminish significantly. The school bond was defeated by about the same vote as the county courthouse remodel bond was two years ago.

  Mark Solomon

  Homeowners are brewing up a property tax revolt
  Dan Popkey
  Idaho Statesman
  Edition Date: 04-24-2005

  Forget about water, debt for roads and tax breaks for big corporations. The hot new issue is tax relief for homeowners.

  The prospect of a property-tax revolt like the one that swept from California to Idaho in 1978 has lawmakers spooked and looking to calm angry taxpayers.

  The nut of the problem: Property taxes have shifted to residential taxpayers from commercial, agricultural and other sectors. Residential taxpayers pay nearly 62 percent of property taxes - a record. The figure was 47 percent in 1990.

  Residential taxes increased an average of 10 percent for the 2004 tax year, according to an Idaho Tax Commission study.

  "We've got a grass-roots rebellion on our hands," said Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who represents a district where taxable valuations on homes jumped as much as 30 percent last year.

  "They're angry, they don't think their elected officials are responsive, and they think they were stonewalled by the House Revenue and Taxation Committee last session," Keough said. "They're talking about two things: throwing us out and passing an initiative."

  Leaders of a coalition that began in Sandpoint and Lewiston were in Boise last week shopping a new 1 Percent Property Tax Limitation Initiative. The plan would cut taxes by an average 25 percent statewide, but with wide local swings.

  Annual revenues for schools and local government would drop $290 million from $1.14 billion collected in 2004, according to a preliminary estimate by the Tax Commission. That translates to a 39 percent cut for Boise City and Ada County, where the overall average levy is 1.6 percent. Boise schools would lose 32 percent, but Meridian schools would stay whole.

  House Speaker Bruce Newcomb responded with a committee to bring reforms to the 2006 session. Newcomb took notice while on a campaign trip in North Idaho last year but, distracted by water issues, he let the House Rev & Tax committee kill seven relief bills and create the study panel.

  "There are strong feelings, and rightly so," Newcomb said. "We're going to get an initiative."

  An initiative would take lawmaking out of the hands of the Legislature and give it to voters in November 2006. Backers plan to begin gathering the required 47,881 signatures by June 1, said Chuck Cline, chairman of Idaho Property Tax Reform. Cline, a former Nez Perce County commissioner, met with supporters in the Treasure Valley last week.

  The coalition includes taxpayers in Bonner County who drew 200 people to the Panida Theater in Sandpoint for a rally in March.

  "We're moving," said Bob Chenault, a retired TV producer who moved from California in 1994 and helped form Sensible Taxation of Property (STOP). "I don't trust the Legislature. They only do things when they begin to feel the jaws close around them."

  Lawmakers have granted relief to other sectors with good lobbyists to push through complex tax breaks. Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes told me the residential tax revolt has been stoked by publicity about new property-tax breaks for Micron, Albertsons and other companies.

  An earlier and less-publicized break - the qualified investment exemption - cut taxable value on industrial property by $200 million. Agriculture and timber also have gotten recent cuts.

  Meanwhile, the homeowners' 50/50 exemption, enacted by initiative in 1982 to account for inequities in assessments, has never been adjusted for inflation.

  That's how residential taxpayers have come to carry 61.6 percent of the burden, the highest since the Tax Commission began tracking in 1980. Agriculture (4.2 percent), mining (0.3 percent), timber (0.9 percent) and utilities (4.4 percent) are at record lows. Commercial property (28.7 percent) is paying its lowest share in 21 years.

  House Democratic Leader Wendy Jaquet welcomes an initiative because it pressures the Legislature. "There's been a huge tax shift, and the people need a lobbyist," she said. "The initiative will be their lobbyist."

  There's talk of raising the sales tax a penny or more to cover school maintenance and operations budgets. But that does nothing to reverse the tax shift from business to ordinary folks. In fact, it makes things worse, in part because we tax food.

  Rep. Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, is likely to co-chair the interim committee with Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg. Lake wants to look at the spending side and discuss capping growth on school revenues, which are not subject to the same restrictions as other local governments.

  Rep. Bill Deal, R-Nampa, will be named to the 14-member committee when it's formed in May. He proposes a constitutional amendment that would cap annual growth in assessments at 3 percent or less.

  Local governments, saddled with growth-related expenses, will resist. But House Assistant GOP Leader Mike Moyle of Star said they'd better play ball because they'll like what lawmakers do far better than an initiative.

  "Cities and counties are going to have to put up and help us solve this issue or they're going to get an initiative shoved down their throats they won't like at all," he said. "It's the No. 1 thing I hear about. People are ticked."

  They should be. Policy-makers have twisted the tax knife into the backs of homeowners who are paying for corporate breaks.

  As lawmakers scrutinize the property tax shift they've engineered, they would be well-advised to remember the power of the American dream of home-ownership. Big business has leftover cash to pay lobbyists to influence government, but they're no match for the people once they figure out they've been wronged

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