Committee holds House Bill 74; introduces RS 32441 to make $100 million in property-tax relief ongoing

The Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Feb. 21 held House Bill 74 in committee and introduced a related rewrite, RS 32441, which sponsor Representative Jason Monks said would convert a previously one-time $50 million allocation into ongoing funding and add another $50 million for homeowner property-tax relief.

Representative Jason Monks, R., of District 22, told the committee the package adds $50 million to the School Facilities Fund and $50 million to the Homeowners Property Tax Relief Account. “The new RS does the exact same thing, both of those ongoing,” Monks said, summarizing the change from a one-time payment to an ongoing appropriation.

Nut graf: The measures amend how state dollars are routed for property-tax relief. Under the structure Monks described, the School Facilities Fund pays school bonds and levies first; any remainder can be used by districts for maintenance or capital needs. The homeowners account is limited to taxpayers who claim the homeowners exemption.

Monks traced the accounts to House Bill 292, a prior negotiated bill that established the two property-tax relief accounts, and said the intention was to provide relief without disadvantaging districts with fewer bonds or levies. He estimated that about $17 million currently “comes out of the bottom” of the school-side formula to districts and that the additional $50 million would increase that bottom-end distribution by roughly $6 million.

Questions from committee members ranged from whether the state should be using sales-tax-derived funds to offset local property taxes to how much revenue currently flows through the accounts. Representative Raybould expressed concern about using general revenues to offset local tax decisions; Monks replied that sales tax was originally implemented in part to reduce property-tax burdens and said using some of that revenue to offset property taxes is appropriate.

Lisa Anderson, providing remote written testimony on behalf of ARP Idaho, urged support for HB 74, saying property tax is especially burdensome for low-income and older Idahoans and that relief helps homeowners and renters. “Property tax continues to be the most burdensome tax for low income and older Idahoans to absorb,” Anderson said in her submitted testimony.

Committee actions: Representative Shepherd moved to hold House Bill 74 in committee; the motion carried by voice vote. Later, Representative Ehlers moved to introduce RS 32441 and recommend it be sent to the second-reading calendar; the motion carried by voice vote and RS 32441 was introduced with that recommendation.

The committee did not adopt the sponsor’s preference to replace HB 74 with the RS immediately; instead it held HB 74 and separately introduced the RS. No final fiscal detail or amendment language was adopted in committee; several members asked for additional breakdowns and for staff to provide distributions and revenue-offset details.

The committee adjourned after taking the two actions; further consideration of the measures will occur if the House leadership places them on the next calendars.