Capitol Report October 5, 2007

From Tim Flook:

Citizen Task Force Works to Ease Property Tax Burden

This year when you received that letter from the assessor’s office showing the reassessed value of your home, were you excited to see your investment in real estate was showing a solid return? In most situations, learning that something you own has increased in value is extremely good news. In the case of real estate it is something else entirely. Last year we built momentum with House Bill 444, a major step forward. We hope to continue the trend this year by focusing on property tax.

Across the nation people are struggling to meet the financial burden resulting from the ever-increasing property values and the corresponding increase in property taxes. In some counties in Missouri, assessed values increased by an average of 22% between 2005 and 2007. That jump in value may indicate your property is worth more, but it also means you are going to have to pay out even more of your hard-earned money. For many Missourians, the increased financial burden is too much; in some cases, the end result is losing a home they paid off years ago but can no longer afford because of property taxes.

We are using this interim to tackle the property tax problem with a very innovative approach. That approach is in the form of a group of citizens appointed by the Speaker of the House to serve on a task force charged with seeking solutions to this issue.

Interim Committees for Property Tax Adjustment

While our interim committees are typically made up solely of legislators, we wanted to try something different. We felt the best way to get thoughtful suggestions and accurate information was to turn to Missourians outside the political realm, citizens dealing firsthand with the property tax system. This philosophy has produced a task force comprised of retired seniors, school board members, home builders, county assessors, etc. These are people who have the experience, knowledge and objectivity to research the issue and make recommendations to improve our system.
Without question, the task force has an extremely difficult job ahead of it. They must balance the interests of Missourians on fixed incomes who are unable to keep up with increasing property taxes while considering the needs of our schools and emergency services that depend on property taxes. This is no easy task, but I am confident this group of concerned citizens can make progress on finding a solution to significantly improve our system.

Suggested Solutions

Some of the suggestions raised so far include ideas such as removing property taxes as a way to finance public schools or limiting increases in assessed value. Another idea being discussed would freeze assessments on residential property owners whose age and years of homeownership equals 100. This would directly target and help seniors who have owned property for years but can no longer meet the financial burden of increasing property taxes.
Whatever recommendations the task force ultimately comes up with, we can rest assured they will have taken into consideration every aspect of our property tax system to come up with a fair and equitable solution. The goal is to have a system where it becomes good news to discover your home has increased in value. We want to fix a broken system that is not treating the people of this state fairly. I have every confidence our task force will do exactly that.