The list managers will be ending this because of the state wide nature any second now but I thought I should chime in.
How about real Truth in Taxation reform? How about when the Legislature, Governor and County and Local Officials tell us about cost of our taxes that they tell us the truth. That a $5 (50, 500 whatever) increase on today's property taxes will really be $19 (190, 1900 whatever) because they increased the value of my home by 15% and put me in the next tax rate. For years the average home owner has seen two lines on there Truth in Taxation sheet, market value and limited (taxable) value the legislature in all its glory got rid of the limited value. Now as the current Governor keeps saying we have a spending problem not a revenue problem, I totally disagree. We have a problem with both. In order to fund current Government we have increased the property tax base by 15% each year (max increase in the taxable value) now they are going with market and we all know market values have been rising even faster. Let's take a second and think about making the value of a home the price it was purchased for. Have that be the dollar amount we tax off of. If the home owner makes an improvement, refinances (takes advantage of market value) or has a change in property status, or sale price is not in market range we look at the property and make a value judgment. This would allow us to have the county "inspections" every 3 years done away with. Keeping enough staff to evaluate the change in status properties, the cities inspectors all ready have a value to improvements for license application reasons; just tack that on to the value. Has the effect that elderly and poor are not taxed out of homes. There is something similar in California, put in place in the 70's or early 80's if memory serves, but they didn't allow local government to adjust taxes in the beginning to compensate for the initial down turn in taxes. If you budget for a 15% increase every year in property tax base increase and then only have 1-3%(1-3% would be the turn over in property that you would get the new market value from) that lack of revenue increase hit's pretty hard at the local level. So that would need to be addressed before this would be a reality. Brian Hanf Crystal Friend of real reform.. REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
