They are addressing one of my big concerns: the elderly and those on fixed incomes having to sell their homes because they cannot afford to pay the taxes.
BOISE — Within a week, all Idaho property owners will have received their 2019 tax bills.
If past is prologue, then many Idaho city, county and state elected officials can expect a flood of phone calls, emails and letters from people who gasped upon seeing what they owe.
A group of Idaho lawmakers is taking a look at what factors are affecting property taxes and what the Legislature can do about it.
Since the property tax working group held its first meeting Oct. 21, committee co-chairman Rep. Gary Collins, R-Nampa, said he has received emails and handwritten letters from across the state. The committee is still in its information-gathering stage and plans more meetings before making recommendations to the Legislature, which convenes in January.
“The thoughts that were expressed and experiences these individuals were having just reinforces for me the need of this tax working group. The obvious problem that we have is … that a lot of our citizens and constituents are being priced out of their homes because of (property) taxes,” Collins said during the group’s second meeting, held Monday at the Capitol.
“When you have individuals who have been in their home for 45 years and their property taxes have doubled or tripled in the last five or six years, and they are on Social Security and a very limited pension, something has to be done to help those people, as well as those who are in better jobs, making more money, but their monthly tax bill is more than their house payment.”
Collins said he hopes the group will come up with some recommendations that are “positive changes” and not “shifting taxes to someone else.”
Idaho has nearly 1,000 taxing districts, ranging from counties and cities to mosquito abatement districts. Cities, counties and school districts collect the bulk of property taxes. And reducing the tax burden on property owners without shifting it to someone else leaves little option but to reduce local government funding.