Assessor finds levy freeze poor policy
On May 10, Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 199 containing a school mill levy freeze, “because it represents good government.” I disagree.
To shore up mandated Amendment 23 spending, the mill levy freeze shifts $1.7 billion in taxes over the next decade from the state general fund to local property taxes. This is bad public policy.
The state general fund gets 95 percent of its revenue from income and sales taxes.
Income taxes you pay increase as your ability to pay increases. Sales taxes can be managed by limiting purchases. But property taxes rise based on the increased value of real estate you own, and citizens have no control over those value increases. Even if one’s income is static or goes down, property taxes go up as property values increase. This is why property taxes are so harsh on seniors with fixed incomes, small businesses and working families.
As a county assessor, I see people in my office daily struggling with their property taxes and seeking some form of relief. They are senior citizens who don’t want to leave their ever- more-valuable homes, small business owners with declining revenues and increasing property tax payments, and families whose monthly house payments are going up to pay property taxes.
If the state really needs an additional $1.7 billion, shifting that burden to local property taxes is certainly a poor way to get it.
Jim Everson, Golden
Jefferson County assessor
That's why our property tax system needs an overhaul just as our income tax system does.
Posted by QBT on May 28, 2007 09:42 PMAnd this is coming from from someone who just raised the assesment on my house by 35% this year...
Posted by CL on May 29, 2007 08:22 AM