With the uncertainty surrounding oil prices – and the subsequent effects on tax collections – the push to lower or eliminate state income taxes appears to be losing steam.
Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner (R-Dickinson) says the Republicans’ latest revenue forecast shows losses in oil, sales and income taxes – and he believes lawmakers will tread lightly on cutting the income tax.
"Keep in mind that we have cut income taxes the last three bienniums," said Wardner. "The income tax in North Dakota is very low."
Wardner says he'd rather do something in the area of property taxes. And he says he’s concerned about continuing the state’s commitment to property tax relief.
Wardner says the money is there for the 2015-2017 biennium. And he says he wants to sustain that beyond the next two years.
Wardner says the main vehicle for property tax relief has been the state taking a larger share of funding local schools.
"The 125 mills that we have taken over from local school districts -- we have to fund that," said Wardner. "We probably would have to tap in -- and this is a good thing -- to the interest from the Legacy Fund, so we could sustain that for K-12 education."
The Legislature can start tapping into the Legacy Fund’s interest earnings in the 2017 session.