Property tax relief done incorrectly could be temporary

A decade ago, state lawmakers were besieged by homeowners upset about high property taxes. In response, they passed property tax relief.

The General Assembly passed a law that gave every homeowner a $100,000 exemption from taxes for school operating funds. The property tax problem was supposed to be solved.

Now, lawmakers are once again besieged by homeowners complaining about property taxes. They are again committed to providing relief for those taxpayers.

But how can they be sure this time that relief will be permanent? How can they make sure

that they won't be surrounded by angry homeowners in another 10 years, looking for another round of relief? After all, the legislature is still funding the first round of property tax relief each year.

The key lies in what went wrong with the previous round of tax relief.

The first problem was that the property tax on homeowners wasn't eliminated. It was just reduced. The burden on taxpayers was relieved, giving school boards, county councils and city councils room to increase taxes. And the burden started to grow again.

The second problem was that the legislature corrupted the relief. Some lawmakers wanted the distribution of the money changed so their counties would get a larger share. After that, some homeowners got much more than a $100,000 exemption, while some got much less.

To fix the first problem, the General Assembly should stick to the House's basic formula -- abolishing the property tax on homeowners for school, municipal and county government operations.

That would keep the tax from creeping back up. A Senate plan that would address only school taxes would make room for cities and counties to increase the taxes again.

To repair the second problem, lawmakers should take care of the needs of all school districts. Districts that tax their residents to pay for schools should be held harmless. They should get as much money from this plan as they were generating from property taxes.

And districts that were unable to raise much from property taxes should see their funding increase. A disparity between these districts was understandable when it was generated by varying tax bases and property tax rates. Disparities will not be understood nor easily defended when the state simply gives districts their money.

Unless the distribution plan for this relief money includes a method to achieve funding equity reasonably soon, the distribution will be unstable and subject to constant political fights and manipulation.

There are many reasons not to adopt this latest in a string of legislative piecemeal tax changes -- mostly because the state needs a more comprehensive, systemic reform of the state tax system.

But lawmakers are determined to relieve the political pressure from homeowners. They need to make sure that they relieve it permanently.