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Eliminating Unfair Property Tax Increases - The Fair Property-Tax Petition
Jim Bray, Guest Editorial
The establishment of The Fair Property-Tax Committee has resulted in a very large number of telephone and email inquiries from concerned citizens wanting to know what is being advocated and how they can support efforts for Property Tax Change. The major concerns centered around the feelings of being victimized by increases in property taxes beyond their control and ability to pay, and high increases that were the result of inflationary property appreciation.
It is a fact that a high percent of property owners in the county and state have received increases in the 30% to 100% plus range during the last two years due to inflation driven property appreciation. And, those who have not seen increases yet should be fully aware they too will see large tax increases in the future. Throughout the state the number of property tax appeals have reached record levels as property owners resent having such large increases imposed upon them with no right of consent, and many worry about being taxed out of their homes. It is our opinion that such taxation is unfair and out of line with our state’s touted “Truth in Taxation” legislation. In fact, this issue became so heated in Davis County that the County Commissioners, in response to complaints, approved an abatement action (canceling) of all tax increases in excess of 24% for their property owners.
The culprit in this problem is allowing inflationary property appreciation to influence the taxable values of properties. It is not voter approved tax increases, and it’s not those who administrate the law. It is the Assessor practice of using “fair market value” as taxable value. We have not noticed it until recently as steady growth generating lower tax rates has muted unfair impacts until the last two years, which just happen to coincide with the highest property appreciation time period in Washington County history.
We feel the best answer to this problem is to get inflationary appreciation out of taxable values. This would be done by using an “actual value” based assessment approach by the County Assessor for purposes of calculating property taxes. In other words, the actual purchase price less any costs of purchase plus the cost of improvements would be the taxable value. This approach would not change any other property tax programs such as “green belt”, special abatement programs or existing “State Truth in Taxation” protections. In fact it would strengthen “Truth in Taxation” laws, as property owners would not be surprised by unannounced inflation driven tax increases.
Most importantly, it would eliminate inflation driven property taxation. If this inflation driven property taxation is not removed we will continue to be taxed on assessor estimated capital gains on our homes and property before they are realized, and that may never materialize. Also, due to the volatility of inflationary property appreciation from year to year, taxable values for similar properties throughout the county will vary greatly as only a portion of the properties can be reassessed each year. Being required to pay taxes on an unrealized gain without the funds to pay and the shifting of tax burden from year to year is unfair and inconsistent with acceptable taxing principles.
Many have asked what can we do to correct this problem? We believe the best approach is through our State Legislature. If you are supportive, please sign and return our petition. It can be found elsewhere in this newspaper. We will present the petitions to our state representatives (Bradley Last, David Clark, Steven Urquhart, and Bill Hickman) to provide them with a stronger voice as they represent our interests. Direct calls, emails and letters to them are also encouraged. .
(Jim Bray is the Communications Chairman for The Fair Property-Tax Committee)
Their Petition will read as follows:
Petition to Change the Process for Determining
Washington County, State of Utah, Property Tax Assessments
To: Senator John Hickman, Representative David Clark,
Representative Bradley G. Last, Representative Steven H.
Urquhart
Whereas, high property appraisals in Washington County over the last few years have led to large increases in individual county property taxes, resulting in hardship for many property owners in the county;
Whereas, the present Truth in Taxation law fails to protect property owners from these large increases in property taxes;
Therefore, we, the citizens of Washington County, Utah petition the Utah State Legislature to modify the present method of determining real estate property taxes by using original property purchase price as a base value and limiting public hearing approved annual tax increases to the lesser of 4% or the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). For property purchased more than 5 years ago, the base value will be the assessed value used in November 2002.
Improvements to properties will be valued at actual expense and will increase taxable property value during the next taxing period.
