Senate committee reviews sweeping amendment to HB 1168 raising primary-residence credit to $1,650 and other property-tax changes

The Senate Finance and Taxation Committee reviewed a 63-page amendment to House Bill 1168 that would raise the primary-residence property tax credit, align several exemptions, and make technical and implementation changes to how property tax relief is calculated and distributed.

Chairman Weber described the amendment as a “hog house” that incorporates contents of House Bill 1176 and a number of technical corrections. The draft would raise the primary-residence credit to $1,650 while keeping a limit that the credit cannot exceed 75% of property tax due and must be at least $500.

Senator Grama explained the targeted effect of the proposal: “At $1,650 and 75% with a floor of $500 we're dealing with all of those individuals with property taxes less than $2,200. So you're concentrating all your credits on the very low end of all of the property tax owners.” He said preliminary fiscal estimates he had seen put the cost of that “skin in the game” design in the vicinity of $21 million, and that the figure would require county data and tax-department analysis.

Key provisions discussed by the committee include: - Disabled-veterans exemption: The amendment would raise the disabled-veterans valuation exemption to align with a $200,000 threshold already used for certain senior exemptions (described as section 10…