Lawmakers considering plan to cut property tax

With less than a week to go before the start of the 2007 Legislature, GOP legislative leaders now are pushing property-tax cuts as a way to slow surging state revenue growth.

Senate Republicans were expected to caucus behind closed doors today to talk about tax cuts, including this new proposal to reduce or even eliminate the state-mandated share of property tax that goes to support public schools. But the meeting has been postponed.

"It was a strategic planning retreat and the president decided to postpone it because we all need to be there," new Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said late Monday. He said the meeting isn't canceled but will be held sometime in the next week to 10 days.

"It's a joint proposal," Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said earlier Monday.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, agreed, saying both the House and Senate are looking at reducing property taxes by as much as $250 million as at least part of an overall tax cut.

No one has calculated yet exactly how much the reduction would cut property-tax bills, but Curtis said "it would be noticeable. ... It wouldn't surprise me if it were upwards of $40 to $50 per $100,000 on a residential property."

With $1.6 billion in one-time surpluses and ongoing revenue growth, lawmakers are looking for places to cut taxes. House Republicans have already agreed they want a $300 million tax cut and are expected to consider the property-tax proposal during a Wednesday caucus.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. called for a $100 million reduction in personal income taxes in his $10.7 billion budget for 2007-08. The governor wants to continue his tax-reform effort by further reducing the new flat-tax rate to 5 percent and creating a refundable tax credit. Huntsman's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, said the governor has not seen the property-tax proposal. "The governor's focus has been on the personal income tax primarily," she said. "Certainly he'll look at whatever the Legislature brings up."

Curtis said the proposal surfaced in a "brainstorming meeting" between House and Senate leaders held over the holidays. "We would hope the governor would see the value in this and join on," the House speaker said.

The governor's income tax proposal — or at least a version of it — could still be part of a tax-cut package, Curtis said, depending on how big of a tax cut the House and Senate can agree on.

Valentine said that if lawmakers are "talking about tax reform, I want all taxes on the table." He called property tax "philosophically very difficult for people," especially as property values rise faster than incomes.