Tax rise is the dark side of real estate boom

BOISE — Charlotte Snow assails the rising property taxes on her 33-acre spread in the windswept foothills above Idaho's state capital.

"I've got a tarp on my roof and plastic on my windows to keep the heat in," Snow said. "I never intended to live like this. But I don't have enough to pay my property tax bill, much less keep the place fixed up."

For several days this month, Snow sat and watched as a panel of Idaho legislators heard testimony about a battery of proposals, more than three dozen of them intended to ease voter anxiety about the state's skyrocketing property taxes. When her time came to testify, amid a parade of economists, homeowners, lobbyists and statehouse gadflies, she wept and begged the state to do something to save the rural life she had come to Idaho to enjoy.

"The whole question is, why do I have to sell my home because the taxes went crazy?" she said. "All I've got is a rundown barn in the middle of Idaho."

Nearly everyone complains about property taxes, but Snow seems to have a particular point. In the last year, when her land on the edge of Boise's creeping sprawl was reclassified to residential property from agricultural, her taxes rose to $10,871 from $2,200.

Soaring home prices, shifting population and sporadic budget crunches have combined to make property taxes one of the thorniest sources of voter anger and legislative angst in dozens of states. Call it the dark side of the real estate boom.

"There is a lot of interest in property tax relief across the country," said Bert Waisanen, who studies tax trends for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "A lot of states have either recently enacted or are considering a variety of mechanisms, often aimed at finding relief for senior citizens and low-income homeowners who get swamped by rising property values."

A handful of state legislatures are grappling with the matter right now. In Texas, legislators are under a June 1 deadline set by the state's Supreme Court, which ruled that the current property tax system is unconstitutional.

A mishmash of proposals are being considered by Indiana legislators to stanch rising voter anger over rising property taxes, including proposals to raise other taxes.

In South Carolina, legislators are debating whether to let voters decide in a November referendum what to do about rising property assessments.