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<DIV><FONT size=4>Mark,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Thank you for the perspective and the article.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I hope the new assessor will publicly avow to and scrupulously
follow the requirements of Idaho especially in the treatment of <STRONG><FONT
color=#ff0000 size=5>all</FONT></STRONG> 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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>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.</FONT></DIV><FONT
size=4>
<DIV><BR>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow, ID
83843</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(208) 882-7975<BR><A
href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=msolomon@moscow.com href="mailto:msolomon@moscow.com">Mark
Solomon</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, April 28, 2005 6:52
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] taxes</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<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 color=#993300 size=+3><B><BR></B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#993300 size=+3><B>Homeowners are brewing up a
property tax revolt</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#993300 size=+1><B>Dan Popkey</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=-2>Idaho Statesman</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=-2>Edition Date:
04-24-2005</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=-2><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=-2><BR></FONT><FONT face=Arial
color=#000000 size=+1>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 color=#000000 size=+1><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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