Property tax notices — a shock in the mail

Special districts — including water, sewer, recreation, fire and mosquito abatement districts — will take 11 percent of the property tax pie. Collecting the most is the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (builder of the Central Utah Project), at $30.8 million. Collecting the least is the Henrieville Cemetery Maintenance District, $690.

By comparison ...

Jerman, with the Utah Taxpayers Association, says property taxes in Utah are actually lower than in most states — but Utah's overall, combined taxes are higher.

"Property tax is the only major tax where Utah is lower than the national average. Income, sales and gasoline taxes are above average as a percent of personal income," Jerman said.

One reason property taxes are lower, he said, is that Utah discounts the market value of residences, but not businesses, by 45 percent before multiplying it by the tax rate to figure taxes. "That is more generous than most states," he said.

Jerman noted that property values statewide rose by 22.9 percent this year. But overall taxes did not go up that much, in part because of "truth-in-taxation" laws.

Those laws generally force governments to lower the tax rates they apply to rising property values so that they generate the same revenue as the previous year — but some increases from new growth are allowed. If governments want to raise rates beyond that, they must hold public hearings publicized by large newspaper ads.

Jerman said property taxes would have increased about 6 percent statewide this year, instead of double-digits, if no increases were made beyond what truth-in-taxation laws allowed without extra hearings. Still, he said, "truth-in-taxation plays a major role" in keeping Utah taxes down.

Meanwhile, Jerman said total taxes of all types in Utah are higher than average in large part because of demographics. "Large family size here definitely has impact on the tax burden."

Because Utahns have more children per family, each wage earner must pay more taxes to provide services for more people.

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