Property tax system 'well-run'
There are 4 comments for this page [ View ]Thursday, May 22, 2008
By LORETTA PARK
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's property tax system does not need a major overhaul, lawmakers were told Wednesday.
The Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee met to hear a presentation on alternatives to the fair market value/land value tax.
"The rest of the country looks at Utah as a well-run government," said Joan M. Youngman, senior fellow with Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, based in Cambridge, Mass.
Even though Utah is considered well-run by other states, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said property tax is the "most hated tax" in the state because of its visibility.
He said if residents were forced to pay their sales tax or income tax in one lump sum annually, those taxes would become the "most hated taxes."
Davis County Assessor James Ivie said Youngman's presentation is what county assessors have been trying to tell legislators.
"Utah's system is not broken, so why fix it," Ivie said.
Bountiful's Ron Mortensen, co-founder of CitizensForTaxFairness.org, disagrees. He said the presentation was more about how to raise revenue for government and failed to focus on "the human element, the person paying the taxes."
Youngman was asked by legislators to speak Wednesday and share research her institution has done with Utah's property taxes and with other states.
Other states, such as California and Massachusetts, have changed property tax laws and have suffered unintended consequences, Youngman said.
California is facing a $15 billion deficit and local governments have lost authority on how to use property taxes since Proposition 13 was implemented, she said.
Florida also underwent a property tax reform several years ago and is now cutting funds from education "drastically."
In Florida, property tax laws were changed after residents said they "needed to save our homes," Youngman said. Florida residents only paid taxes on the acquisition value of their home, but discovered after a few years that if they decided to sell they would be forced to pay higher taxes on their new home.
Now they're saying, "We're locked into our houses and we can't move," she said. Other states look at Utah as a model state in how it handles property tax and uses its funds, Youngman said.
"We think you're doing a good job," she said. After the meeting, Rep. Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville, said he still plans to propose four bills this upcoming session to make minor changes to the state's system.
One of Froerer's bills looks at increasing the amount of income eligible for tax abatement. Another would consolidate truth in taxation hearings. He's also proposing a modified acquisition property tax and a land value tax rate.
Rep. Julie Fisher, R-Fruit Heights, said she is considering sponsoring a bill that would require taxing entities to hold a truth in taxation hearing yearly even though there would be no tax increase.
Comments
This is an excellent and informative summary of what went on in the Committee meeting yesterday. Kudos to the reporter. The only thing missing is the fact that Mortensen is running for the legislature. His comments are designed to pander to potential voters and conveniently ignore the fact that government has to raise money to provide police protection, safe drinking water and all the other "goodies" the public needs.
The reporter did a good job of reporting. But the "pandering" mentioned by "I was there" was all done by the Lincoln institute lady who simply told the legislators what they wanted to hear and praised the BYU profs. for their shoddy research. As always a very good PR "dog and pony show", yet no one objected to the 2005 data used by the new legislative researcher from BYU nor the total lack of any recognition that property taxes in Utah are based upon speculative guesses of property values very heavily skewed by Realtor Association hype. No other tax uses these bogus measurements and metrics.
Expect more of the same "political theater" and grand standing from these same legislators. Legislators paying themselves to have others confirm a sick and demented property taxation system is organized corruption. But hey, you already knew that.
This is an excellent and informative summary of what went on in the Committee meeting yesterday. Kudos to the reporter. The only thing missing is the fact that Mortensen is running for the legislature. His comments are designed to pander to potential voters and conveniently ignore the fact that government has to raise money to provide police protection, safe drinking water and all the other "goodies" the public needs.
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WHat a bunch of GOP bull! Taxation in Davis County is a farce. The GOP leadership keeps upping taxes while they continue to pull back services. Davis County government is a monster and the defacto Mayor Steve Rawlins is a not much different from being a mob boss.