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<div><font face="Arial" size="+1">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1">Mark Solomon</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+3"
color="#993300"><b><br></b></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+3" color="#993300"><b>Homeowners are
brewing up a property tax revolt</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#993300"><b>Dan
Popkey</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-2" color="#000000">Idaho
Statesman</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-2" color="#000000">Edition Date:
04-24-2005</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-2" color="#000000"><br>
</font><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">Forget about
water, debt for roads and tax breaks for big corporations. The hot new
issue is tax relief for homeowners.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Residential taxes increased an average of 10 percent for the 2004 tax
year, according to an Idaho Tax Commission study.<br>
<br>
"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.<br>
<br>
"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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"There are strong feelings, and rightly so," Newcomb said.
"We're going to get an initiative."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
The coalition includes taxpayers in Bonner County who drew 200 people
to the Panida Theater in Sandpoint for a rally in March.<br>
<br>
"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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000"><br>
Meanwhile, the homeowners' 50/50 exemption, enacted by initiative in
1982 to account for inequities in assessments, has never been adjusted
for inflation.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
"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."<br>
<br>
They should be. Policy-makers have twisted the tax knife into the
backs of homeowners who are paying for corporate breaks.<br>
<br>
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</font></div>
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