Property-tax limit may go to voters

An Assembly Taxation subcommittee heard testimony Wednesday from advocates of AJR17, to cap annual increases in taxable value on property at 2 percent or the inflation rate, whichever is less.

The panel took no action. Assemblyman Greg Brower, R-Reno, who chaired the subcommittee, said he expects the proposal will come up at a full Taxation Committee before lawmakers adjourn May 31.

"What right does government have to tax anyone out of their home?" said Randi Thompson of Nevadans for Fair Taxation. "I know this (resolution) won't pass here, but this will be on the ballot in 2000."

Other proponents of AJR17 included Ann Pellegrini of Incline Village, who said her family "made this our home by choice - and may be taxed out of it by choice."

Other Incline residents told of their property taxes rising nearly 100 percent in six years.

"I knew nothing of it when I bought the house," said Don Kaplan. "If I knew, I wouldn't have moved."

But tax experts cited several problems with the proposal, including a still-unknown impact on counties and school districts heavily dependent on property taxes.

Earlier in the session, skeptical legislators said the plan - that would block efforts to shift Nevada's dependence on casino and sales taxes to property taxes - would bankrupt some counties.

In addition to limiting increases, the proposed amendment to the Nevada Constitution would roll back Nevada's property tax rate to mid-1990 levels.

Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, said the tax plan would cost the state $200 million over five years and could wreck local government budgets.

The measure would also prevent any future hike in the real estate transfer tax, which counties dip into for specific spending projects.

Taxation Chairman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, has criticized a provision in AJR17 that would base property taxes on the original sale price of a home, and not on a periodic review of market value.

But Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, who proposed AJR17, saidt his proposal wouldn't change the way people are taxed when they buy a new home.

The plan would also allow seniors to transfer the assessed value of their old home to any they moved into, regardless of the purchase price, and would mandate that any property tax increases or additions be approved by a two-thirds majority vote in a countywide election.

Because AJR17 would change the Nevada Constitution, it must be passed twice by both houses of the Legislature - once this session and once again in the 2001 session. Before it could be enacted, it would still have to win statewide voter approval in 2002.

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