[Vision2020] taxes
Art Deco
deco at moscow.com
Thu Apr 28 12:51:01 PDT 2005
J Ford,
Interesting thought. Friends from the north tell me that the oil rich
(very) community of Meander River, Alberta, are very seriously looking to an
alternative to their Catholic Mission.
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "J Ford" <privatejf32 at hotmail.com>
To: <deco at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] taxes
> One thought I've been harboring - IF/WHEN Doug is made to pay taxes, he
> may find it enough of a burden that he takes his business elsewhere? Just
> a happy thought I had.
>
>
>
>>From: "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com>
>>To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>, "Jack Nelson"
>><jnelson at latah.id.us>, "Paul Kimmell" <pkimmell at latah.id.us>,
>>"Tom Stroschein" <tstroschein at latah.id.us>
>>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] taxes
>>Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 11:35:44 -0700
>>
>>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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>>_____________________________________________________
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> http://www.fsr.net
>> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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>
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