Resident hopes to change tax rules
 
By Joy Cooney
For The Spectrum & Daily News
 
LEEDS - A Leeds resident who says he's fed up with what he describes as unfair property tax increases is trying to rally like-minded Utahns to work toward changes in legislation.

Jim Bray, a 12-year Washington County resident, said he had an increase in his property taxes five years ago and four years before that.

He said he accepted the increases primarily because of civic obligation and the understanding that any appeal would be without legal merit.

However, this year's tax bill provoked him to take action.

"I'm tired of choking it down and letting the taxes go up one more time without doing something about it," he said, "because I truly feel like it is unfair taxation."

Bray and other Washington County residents are circulating a petition to bring attention to the issue and provoke discussion among legislators.

He said while some properties incurred little tax increase, and some even saw a decrease, other properties "were hit with up to a 100 percent increase."

Calvin Robison, Washington County Clerk, said the average increase in the county was 10 percent, but some areas like Leeds and Pine Valley, because of market value, saw much larger increases ranging from 30 to 100 percent. Areas that dropped in market value, like Hildale, saw decreases.

Utah's Truth in Taxation laws require that taxing entities receive no more than the same revenue as the previous year except for new growth. If the entity desires an increase it must have a public hearing or an election if the increase exceeds the certified tax rate. New growth taxes collected by the entities are generated from additions to existing properties and new properties. Marketplace appreciation is not considered new growth revenue.

One of Bray's primary comments was that the link between taxing agency revenue and property owner taxes is not consistent with the spirit and intent of the law.

Bray concedes that some of the property tax increases are legitimate and provide locally realized benefits, such as "those we voted on" to improve schools and purchase a new county computer system.

"Sometimes we forget that we agreed to some of these taxes when we voted, but we did," he said.

Robison said about 10 percent of this year's increase is a result of the school levy. School taxes approximate two-thirds of all Washington County taxes.

However, Bray cites high market-value appreciation assessments as the primary reason for the tax increases in some pockets of the county. He said the inflated assessments lead to "severe tax increases, taxpayer equity discrepancies, taxpayer hardships and widespread taxpayer dissatisfaction."

"Some people are literally being taxed out of their homes," he said. "There are people who are getting hit hard, especially those on fixed incomes who have lived in their homes for many years and are suddenly now having a really difficult time paying their property taxes."

Bray said that while the Truth in Taxation program is "an excellent program," which he "does not want to lose," it is insufficient because it fails to protect property owners from high increases and it unfairly taxes property owners for fluctuating marketplace appreciation. He proposes that the Legislature modify the Truth in Taxation laws to include a new standard for determining a maximum annual tax adjustment that would limit increasing existing taxes to 4 percent. The base year for determining taxable value would be set back five years to November 2002 "to establish taxpayer equity."

Arthur Partridge, Washington County Assessor, said the disadvantage to this plan is that it will not actually achieve equity, but instead freeze it. A property's market value is the only "common denominator we can use to assess properties."

Robison said Bray's plan has flaws and merits. He agrees with Partridge that Bray's plan would take a "snapshot" of a property that under the proposed law could not be revalued.

"It's a very long shot," he said. "But this year he may have a better chance because there are some inequities in some places where inflation has gone very high, and obviously it's very unfair when some have to take a bigger bite of the tax burden than others."

Robison compared Bray's plan to California's Proposition 13, which placed a property tax cap that led to an average 57 percent decrease in taxable property value. The law restricted properties to being taxed only on cash value, not market value.

He said that like Proposition 13, Bray's plan benefits those who purchase one property and neither sell it nor purchase another. It primarily benefits long-term residents.

To circulate a petition in your area, contact Bray at brayville@redrock.net
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published October 17, 2007
 
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