Sen. Jim Reynolds (Opinion, March 24) is trying to make the case for Senate Joint Resolution 59, a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would cap the annual increase on property taxes for homesteads at 3 percent or the annual rate of inflation, whichever is lower in a given year. It would be fundamentally irresponsible for the Legislature to pass SJR 59 for several reasons.
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Oklahomans already have a major say on property tax issues. Citizens voted in 1995 to approve the 5 percent cap we have in place right now. We also elect the county assessors who assess property values in our communities. If we don't think our assessor is doing the job fairly, we have the opportunity to elect someone else.
Property owners in our state already pay much lower taxes than in most other states. In fact, we rank 47th in state and local property taxes per household and per capita. Our extremely low property tax rates impact many of the services our local communities depend on, including funding for our schools, firefighters, emergency medical services and the maintenance of county roads and bridges.
Oklahomans don't want to lose funding for local schools. In a recent survey conducted by the Oklahoma Commission on Education Administration, about 90 percent of respondents said they oppose any reduction in state spending for education. Anyone who supports sustaining adequate funding for public schools should oppose SJR 59.
State revenues are down this year, which means there are already fewer dollars flowing from the state to support local services. School districts are losing funds from the state and are cutting budgets for this year. Lowering the cap on property taxes would lead to even more serious budget restrictions. While reducing the cap on property taxes would not reduce funds for schools this year, it would seriously reduce the amount of funds available for accommodating growth in the future.
Oklahoma's CareerTech system and our county governments would be hardest hit because a higher percentage of their funding comes from local property taxes. It doesn't seem logical to curtail funding to our CareerTech system, which provides strong support for economic development or to hinder basic services provided by county governments.
Most folks would agree that we pay property taxes as responsible "owners” of our local communities and schools. Ultimately, we have to decide whether it is more important to support our schools and communities or put a few more dollars in our pockets.
Having any sort of artificial cap on property taxes unfairly rewards longer-term property owners. Owners of a house of the same value on one side of the street purchased five years ago, for instance, may pay half the amount in property taxes that a homeowner with a new mortgage right across the street pays. If legislators really want to make a beneficial change, what about figuring out how to make property taxes fair and equitable for everyone? Now that's an idea worth pursuing.
McGregor is president of the Oklahoma Education Coalition and executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Career and Technical Education.
Oklahomans already have a major say on property tax issues.
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The ending comment about fair and equitable taxes is no doubt a worthy endeavor. Consider this counterpoint to not making the property tax issue more reasonable and less punitive to Oklahoma citizens. Many citizens do not see their income increase every year by 5% as we do our property taxes. Those certain citizens include teachers, state employees, retirees, and others whose incomes are either fixed or semi-fixed and cannot expect to achieve yearly commensurate 5% increases. Consequently, they must pay an ever increasing amount of their disposable income to property taxes. Do the math on this one - if tax rates otherwise stay the same, a homeowner will see their property taxes more than double over 15 years and more than triple in 23 years given the expected 5% increases taking place each year. Under a constant 3% scenario, it would take 24 years to double, which is more reasonable, but still not a good deal for someone like a retiree trying to live out their life in their own home. I believe the proposed change to the law would not reduce current funding, but only limit some of the future increases to levels where it would cause less adversity to disposable income levels of many Oklahomans.
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.