Senate subcommittee would make property tax less fair

A state Senate subcommittee approved a constitutional amendment last week that would make property taxes less fair for homeowners.

Lawmakers are in a rush to pass legislation next year to provide relief from property taxes to homeowners. Next year is an election year, and politicians want to appear responsive to voters.

House and Senate leaders are working on packages of legislation that would replace part of the property tax with an increase in the sales tax.

The amendments approved last week are part of those packages. Under the current law, property is reappraised every few years so that all property owners are paying taxes based on the current market value of their property. It is an equitable system designed to ensure that the burden is distributed evenly.

Under the Senate plan, property would be assessed only when it is sold or when substantial improvements are made to it, although counties could decide to adopt a different system.

The Senate plan would relieve property owners from seeing their taxes rise due to reassessments, but it would eliminate the fairness in the tax.

This system would tax new homeowners on the market value of their land, but those who have held their property for decades would pay taxes on a mere fraction of their property's value.

Those who would benefit most would be the owners of expensive waterfront property that appreciates quickly. They would be able to hold their land and pay tax on little of its value.

Those who would be penalized would be families that need to move to find work or need to expand as they have children. Not only will they have to pay tax on the full value of their property, they will have to pay a higher rate because other property owners are not paying on the full value of their property.

Such a system may also make it hard to recruit businesses if their owners and employees will have to shoulder the highest property taxes.

There are problems with property taxes in this state. And there are problems with reassessments that end up doubling homeowners' tax bills. But taking the fairness out of the system won't help.

The Senate should take a comprehensive look at the state's tax system and determine the most equitable and least burdensome tax system using all the forms of revenue the state has available.