Committee introduces RS32054C2 to provide $100 million in property tax relief

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Jan. 28 voted to introduce RS32054C2, a proposal from Speaker Mike Moyle that would allocate $100,000,000 in property tax relief, dividing the money between a school facilities fund and a one-time homeowner payment.

Speaker Mike Moyle, who presented the request statute, said the measure would "put $50,000,000 into the school facilities fund" on an ongoing basis and "put another 50,000,000 on the homeowner side," adding that the school portion would be distributed on average daily attendance. "When I stood before you last week, I told you you'd see 3 bills dealing with tax relief. You saw the first 1 with income tax relief, saw the second 1 with sales tax relief, and now you're gonna see the third 1 with property tax relief, as we try to touch on each of the 3 tax types and provide relief across the board," Moyle said.

The committee moved to introduce the measure on a motion from Representative Ehlers and approved the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. The chairman announced, "That motion carries," and the committee marked RS32054C2 as introduced.

Under the proposal, the $50 million ongoing allocation would augment an existing mechanism that directs 20% of annual distributions to the tax relief fund (money drawn from online sales tax collections) into a facilities fund that the bill would supplement by an additional $50,000,000. Moyle told the committee that the 20% distribution "goes into pay for facilities and is distributed back on ADA, average daily attendance." He said the ongoing funds can be used by school districts to pay bonds, supplementals, plant facilities or building repairs, and that districts without bonds or supplementals could use the money for maintenance or building projects.

The one-time homeowner payment would come from leftover funds in the bond levy equalization account. Moyle told members that "there was 63,000,000 left in the bond levy equalization fund last year. This takes 50 of it and puts it over into the homeowner side of things where people with homeowners exemptions will get their proportionate share of that 50,000,000 1 time." He said distribution for that one-time payment would be based on homeowners with the homeowner exemption and would be apportioned proportionately.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about sources and totals. Representative Birch asked whether the ongoing money referenced the existing 20% provision and the added $50,000,000; Moyle confirmed that "that was our intention when we did the bill last year" and that the bill "just adds another 50,000,000 out of the tax relief fund" to the growing amount. Representative Shannon expressed concern about the overall cost of multiple proposals being considered at the same time, noting a quick total of proposed items: "we've got 17,000,000 for TCAM, this hundred million for property, 50 for grocery tax, $2.50 income tax, 50,000,000 for the tax credit for Ed, 70000000 for the, that the Senate has for a parental, well, seems kinda like, it seems similar to vouchers. And, you add that up, you're at $540,000,000 which is a lot of money."

The introduction does not enact the proposal; it places RS32054C2 on the committee's docket for further consideration. The chairman closed the meeting by noting the committee would reconvene Jan. 29 at 10:00 a.m.