The state Senate’s Appropriations Committee has made some amendments to the big property tax bill, House Bill 1176.
And they aren’t sitting well with Gov. Kelly Armstrong.
The governor appeared before the Committee to make his pitch for the bill, which has a proposed $1450 credit for primary residences, plus three percent caps on local government’s property tax increases.
"People want property tax relief, " Armstrong told the Committee. "They want property tax reform. They want it on their primary residences."
Armstrong said he's worked with many different Legislators on this proposal.
"It would be a shame if it got stuck in the mud now," Armstrong said.
However, Senate Majority Leader David Hogue (R-Minot) offered a package of amendments. One would reduce the primary residence credit to $1250. He told the Committee the $1450 credit would virtually mean rural residence owners would pay no property taxes.
"If you reduce the so-called 'skin in the game' for those rural primary residence owners, they will have no economic stake in voting on a lot of proposed property tax increases," Hogue told the Committee.
That amendment would limit the credit to 75 percent of the property owner’s tax liability, with a minimum of a $500 credit. And Hogue said the $1250 limit would mean no general fund money would be used, with the funding for the credit coming solely through the proceeds from the state’s Legacy Fund.
Hogue also proposed lowering the cap to two percent, with an exemption for local school districts.
"Those other political subdivisions have many different collateral sources of revenue, and a much greater ability to adapt to a cap," Hogue said.
Hogue’s cap proposal was defeated, as were some other amendments.
