Property tax revolt gearing up for 2008

Today’s New Herald
By DAVID BELL

7/15/2007

A Bullhead City man is once again leading the effort to freeze property tax levy rates.

Marc Goldstone, chairman of Arizona Tax Revolt, said his group has filed an initiative petition with the Secretary of State's Office to limit the levy rate of taxing entities.

“We're expanding on Prop 101,” Goldstone said. “It failed to include all entities. It only included county, city, town and community college districts. We believe all the entities should have levy or budget limits.”

In November 2006, voters approved the Taxpayer Protection initiative, amending the state's constitution and limiting the tax levy to last years level plus two percent and growth from new construction.

Should Goldstone collect enough signatures, the new ballot proposition will be voted upon in November 2008.

Goldstone said it's vital to put the same limits on school, fire and other special taxing districts that counties and cities face.

“When you have taxpayers with a limit on what they can spend you create a situation where we spend more than we can pay,” Goldstone said.

Arizona Tax Revolt is also in the process of completing the language for a second proposed initiative, this one rolling back the tax debt of each property owner to the amount they paid in 2003. Goldstone said that's a direct reaction to the escalation of property valuations over the last decade.

“There's no reason why inflation in the real estate market should have an impact on our taxes,” he said.

Goldstone's efforts and the passage of Prop 101 last year have drawn the ire from some Mohave County officials, notably Supervisor Pete Byers, R-Dist.1. In an opinion piece written by Byers and issued through the county's Public Information Office Thursday, Byers said the tax revolt people “want everything done for them but don't want to pay for it.

“I still get calls from tax revolt terrorists who get their expertise while sitting in recliners and listening to Rush Limbaugh (now, that doesn't mean I think people will learn anything worthwhile from James Carville either). With no knowledge of state statutes, no experience in governing and no idea of how to balance a budget (or, for some, even hold a job), many espouse choice tidbits like, ‘Just turn down your air conditioning,' or ‘Why don't you buy Japanese cars for better fuel efficiency?'” Byers wrote.

Byers points to the number of mandated services - such as public safety, courts and public health - as the need to ensure that revenues keep pace with costs. He said it's because of these types of grass roots efforts, “and their fellow travelers in the Legislature,” that revenues are shrinking while expenses are growing.

“Expenses are growing because they continue to spend,” said State Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City.

“That's the first time I've been called a terrorist for watching out for my fellow taxpayers,” Goldstone said.

Gould and Byers have exchanged barbs on numerous occasions, almost always over Gould's support of tax cuts. Gould said he's not ready to endorse the Tax Revolt initiative as he's still reviewing it, but he does like the idea of rolling back tax payments to 2003 levels.

“I have no problem with a rollback. We've had a period of real estate inflation outpacing real inflation. There's no reason property tax should go up 35 percent,” Gould said. “I'm for anything that puts a limit on property taxes.”

Gould also introduced a bill last session that would have placed a 2 percent growth cap on valuations but it failed to get enough support for passage.

Goldstone believes the average property owner is ready to take a serious look at property tax levy rates, valuations and governmental operations.

“Government right now, especially those not under limits, have less incentives to cut waste. Because they have nothing to stop them from increasing the levies,” Goldstone said.

Arizona Tax Revolt needs to collect 230,047 valid signatures (15 percent of the votes cast in the 2006 Governor's race) statewide by July 3, 2008 to quality for the November 2008 ballot.