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February 7, 2008

Gov. Blunt calls for mandatory rollbacks

By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday called for mandatory property-tax rollbacks and other changes in the tax system, saying high property taxes are undermining home ownership.

Blunt made the remarks in a swing around the state that included at stop at the home of Roy and Pat Lincoln, of Webb City.

He said reassessment has become “a shadowy path to higher taxes” because some taxing entities are not rolling back their levies when property values are increased in reassessment.

He said the higher taxes are being allowed because of “loopholes” in the current system, which he said should be corrected through mandatory rollbacks and “truth in taxation.”

He said some of those changes would come through approval of a Senate bill sponsored by Mike Gibbons, of Kirkwood, the Senate president pro tem. The measure is designed to close tax-increase loopholes, require earlier notice and more information, and expand tax relief for low-income seniors and the disabled.

Blunt said homeowners often do not realize that their taxes will be raised until it is too late, because they normally get notices of higher property values from reassessment in the spring, while tax bills don’t have to be paid until November.

“Then, it’s too late to protest,” he said.

He said taxpayers should get estimates of how much their taxes would increase in the spring of each reassessment year, giving them time to appeal the higher values or lobby local officials concerning the tax rate.

Blunt said the changes he favors would fulfill the spirit of the Hancock Amendment, which was passed by voters in 1980 to cap tax increases unless authorized by a vote of the people.

The measure limits local governments’ growth in property taxes from reassessment to 5 percent or the current Consumer Price Index. Governments are to roll back their tax-rate ceilings to make sure tax hikes caused by reassessment do not increase more than allowed. But now, Blunt said, governments are not required to roll back their levies in reassessment years if their tax rates are below the ceiling.

“This would change that loophole,” he said. “If property values increase via reassessment, there should be a corresponding decrease in the tax levy even if it is below the ceiling.”

He acknowledged that the rollback would not apply to school-district operating levies, which are set at a minimum of $2.75 per $100 assessed valuation as a result of a constitutional amendment passed after the Hancock measure.

“But this would apply to more than just school districts, so there would be more relief,” he said.

Blunt said he also supports increased state funding for a program that provides relief for senior homeowners whose property taxes have increased via reassessment.

Roy Lincoln said he likes the idea of any measure that would hold down growth in tax rates. He said the tax bill on his home has grown by 27 percent over the past four years.

“Of course, our income hasn’t grown that much, because we’re retired,” he said.





On the Net



The tax bill is listed among sponsored legislation on Mike Gibbons’ Senate Web site. It also has a page called “Friends of Taxpayers,” which lists governments in St. Louis County that have set rates below the tax ceiling. The site is: www.senate.mo.gov/07info/members/mem15.htm.

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