Tax Revolt leader says time on his group's side

The Daily News
By NEIL YOUNG

Aug. 27, 2007

BULLHEAD CITY - It's a whole new ballgame for the Bullhead City-based Arizona Tax Revolt. Their effort to place a property tax rollback measure on last November's ballot fell short, mostly due to their having to scrap the original proposal and start from scratch in gathering signatures.

Although they ran out of time, they still managed to nail down almost 140,000 signatures in 2 1/2 months. They're at it again, but now have 10 months to gather approximately 230,000 signatures to make it to the Nov. 2008 ballot.

“This time we had a year to think it through,” said Marc Goldstone, Arizona Tax Revolt founder and chairman. “We got input from assessors, treasurers, elected officials and a whole lot of homeowners, some business owners and some business organizations.” Last year the proposed initiative was limited to residential property but this year it will have universal appeal, according to Goldstone. “This really affects everyone that has a roof over their head or a roof over their business (as well as) farmland, range land - everything from oil fields to mines,” he said. “We're talking about all property.”

Goldstone said the initiative will also benefit renters. “The landlords just pass along all their property tax increases,” which could mean the equivalent of “an extra month's payment every year,” he said.

So far, as many as 9,000 petitions have been distributed statewide to the almost 100 local coordinators, who will recruit volunteers to canvas parks, street fairs and shopping centers where people are most likely to congregate.

Not only does Goldstone believe that time is on his side but the tax man will inadvertently give the effort a big boost as well. “One of the major events that's going to help motivate folks ... is the property tax bill that's going to be in everyone's mailbox in the state of Arizona in the next few weeks.”

This time around, Arizona Tax Revolt volunteers will be asking residents to sign two petitions for two separate ballot measures. “We have to control two things to constrain property taxes,” Goldstone said. “We have to control the levies, which is ultimately the government budgets and expenditures of these property tax dollars,” he said, “and we have to control the valuations to make sure that next year you're not the one that sees a two or three hundred percent increase in your value, which will be equated into perhaps a two or three hundred percent increase in property taxes.”

If the property tax rollback passes, 2010's uniform property value will be set at 2003 levels. That applies to everyone - someone who owned their property in 2003 and someone who just bought it.

It will also apply to new houses. Their valuation will be adjusted to what a comparable property was worth in 2003. “So essentially, we're undoing the damage that many have seen due to the rapid run-up in valuations due to speculation and inflation in the real estate market,” Goldstone said.

The rollback limits the annual increase in the uniform property value to 2 percent plus improvements, such as adding a swimming pool. That swimming pool would be assigned a 2003 value, otherwise it could be valued at more than the house itself, Goldstone said.

He said the new measure aimed at levies will fix a 1981 law that limits increases to only a few taxing entities: Counties, cities, towns and community college districts.

Other entities like school, fire and flood control districts are not regulated. “Those taxing entities have absolutely no limit on how many dollars they can take from the property taxpayers and also no limit on their increases from year to year,” Goldstone said.

“All taxing entities will have levy limits,” he said. “Not just a few. All. And that's going to go a long way towards making sure that government is living frugally and spending our tax dollars wisely rather than just being able to say, ‘I need more money' from year to year.”

The levy measure would go into effect in 2009, Goldstone said. The valuation rollback measure would take effect in 2010 to give lawmakers time to pass enabling legislation and to allow the computer programmers time to re-program their systems that calculate property valuations and taxes.