Coalition fires back on property taxes

Posted at 1:07 PM on April 22, 2009 by Tom Scheck

I posted a Revenue Department analysis yesterday that said the Senate DFL Tax bill would increase property taxes. Today, a leading property tax expert for several cities, MN2020 and the Coalition of Greater Minneota Cities released a statement on Revenue's analysis:

Here it is:

Governor Tries To Spin Property Tax Blame

Statement from Jeff Van Wychen, Noted Property Tax Expert, In Response to Statement from Governor's Office That Claims Senate Raises More Property Taxes

"The Revenue Department analysis vastly overstates property tax increases under the Senate tax bill, possibly by as much as $400 million. The claim that the Senate tax bill is increasing property taxes by over $800 million is based largely upon the fallacious assumption that levy limits are effective in holding down property taxes. House Research analysis shows that levy limits are an ineffective long-term strategy for holding down property taxes. Levy limits are a gimmick used by politicians to give the impression that they are doing something about property tax increases."

"The Revenue Department analysis states that the Senate tax bill is increasing business property taxes by $333.6 million. What the analysis fails to mention is that business property taxes have increased at half the rate of homeowner property taxes since 2002. Even with a $333.6 million increase, the rate of business property tax growth will still be well below the rate of homeowner property tax growth over the last seven years."

"Property tax increases since 2002 are largely the result of the Governor's policy of balancing the state's budget on the backs of local governments and local property taxpayers through disproportionately large cuts in state revenue sharing with local governments. By minimizing state aid cuts, the legislative approaches are doing more to protect property taxpayers than the Governor's insistence on the failed policy of levy limits."

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