February 2nd, 2004

Rep Santos and Rep Nixon sponsor HB 3076 for a Washington State Property Tax Homestead Exemption

Legislative Hearing set for Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004

Contact: Steve Zemke

206-999-6095

stevezemke (at) msn (dot) com

A legislative hearing will be held in Olympia on Thur. Feb 5th at 6 P.M. in the John L. O’Brien Building , Hearing Room C.

H.B. 3076 would create a property tax homestead exemption, removing the first 20% of the assessed value of your primary residence from state and local property taxes. According to figures from the state Department of Revenue, a home valued from $100,000 to $150,000 would see a tax saving of about $270.

Thirty-seven states now have some form of homestead exemption. H.B. 3076 would help reduce the property tax burden of middle and low income property owners in Washington State. It is a revenue neutral bill and reverses the recent 20 year trend of shifting more and more property taxation in this state onto residential property from the commercial and industrial sector. Currently residential property accounts for about 60 % of the property taxes collected.

An alternative property tax proposal by Tim Eyman would cut both residential and commercial local property taxes by 25%. It would not provide as much tax relief as HB 3076 does to middle and lower income homeowners but in fact would give the largest tax breaks to wealthy homeowners. The biggest beneficiaries of Eyman’s 25% property tax cut would be big corporations like Boeing, real estate developers and large private utilities all of which will see million dollar tax breaks.

And unlike Eyman’s 25% tax cut proposal which will cut $550 million from local government, including cities, towns, counties, fire departments, libraries, parks and recreation and local public hospitals, HB 3076 is revenue neutral and will not cause your local firemen, police, court officials, road repair crews and public hospital workers to lose their jobs as local government cuts budgets.

HB 3076 is a reasonable proposal to provide tax relief for those who need it most without cutting jobs and ending local services we depend on.

If you can not attend the hearing please contact your legislators to urge tax reform and support for the property tax homestead exemption.

Save money on your property taxes! Support the creation of a Washington State Property Tax Homestead Exemption. Please forward this message to others who might be interested.

Full Text of HB 3076

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2003-04/House/3075-3099/3076_01272004.txt

The Olympian: "Bill shifts burden to pricier properties"

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040129/frontpage/24420.shtml

Homestead Now is a project of Taxpayers for Washington’s Future

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