Please share with your neighbors and church groups!
How to submit online testimony
- Open: Special Interim Committee on Property Tax Reform
- Position: choose Informational
- Topic/Subject: “Property Tax Reform – Personal Impact & Recommendations”
- Paste your comments (see templates below).
- Include your city/county and contact info (as requested), then submit.
What to include (suggestions)
- Who you are: name, city/county, homeowner/renter/senior/veteran/small-business owner.
- Personal impact: size of your recent assessment/tax increase; how it affects your mortgage/escrow, rent, fixed income, or ability to stay in your home.
- Fairness & predictability: ask for stable, understandable taxes so families aren’t surprised by large spikes.
- Transparency: require assessors to show the comps, models, and sales-ratio studies behind your valuation—before appeals.
- Appeals that work: reasonable deadlines, evening/virtual hearings, burden of proof on the assessor, plain-language notices.
- Uniformity without “equalizing up”: when counties are uneven, do not force everyone to the highest values—equalize down or meet in the middle.
- Limit spikes: cap year-over-year tax growth (e.g., the lesser of CPI or a set percent, excluding new construction).
- Levy rollbacks: tighten enforcement so reassessment windfalls don’t turn into permanent tax hikes.
- Protect seniors & the vulnerable: real senior freezes/deferrals that apply across taxing entities; hardship deferrals to keep people in their homes.
- Accountability: establish a strong taxpayer ombudsman within the State Tax Commission to help citizens navigate assessments and appeals.