Is Utah next for a cap on home tax?

FARMINGTON — The shock on Bountiful resident Marva Egbert's face when she opened her property valuation in July seemed understandable.

Her property, which in 2006 had been worth $363,000, was assessed this year at $501,000. Her tax bill for this year is expected to be $3,243 — $900 more than in 2006.

Four property-tax increases and a reappraisal will do that to you.

But Egbert isn't worried about herself, she recently told county commissioners, because she has rental properties that provide an income. Instead, she's concerned about 25 widows on fixed incomes in her neighborhood, who don't know how they're going to make ends meet.

The solution, many would argue, would be for the Utah Legislature to enact a Proposition 13-type law that would cap the rate at which local governments can tax properties.

Prop. 13, as it's commonly known, was passed by 65 percent of California voters in 1978 following a wave of rising values and windfall revenues for local governments.

One of its proponents was Magna native Howard Jarvis, who, after the measure was passed, started a tax-reduction advocacy association, now known as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Many California residents in the 1970s felt like they were being taxed out of their homes, said David Kline, a spokesman for the Sacramento-based California Taxpayers' Association.

That's the sentiment various residents expressed when they crowded into Farmington Junior High on Aug. 9 to voice disapproval of their property taxes.

Kline said his organization didn't originally support Prop. 13 but has since changed its tune.

"We have learned that it has been very good for the state of California," Kline said. "The main reason is that it keeps people from being taxed out of their homes."

According to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, 400,000 residents in Los Angeles didn't pay their property taxes one year because they couldn't afford to and risked losing their homes.

How it works

Proposition 13 set the tax rate at 1 percent throughout California and limited tax increases to no more than 2 percent a year, according to the Howard Jarvis Web site, www.hjta.org.

But once a property is sold, it is reassessed and the new homeowner pays 1 percent a year on the purchase price of the home. The same 2 percent cap on tax increases applies.

"As a result, new buyers are always aware of what their taxes will be and know the maximum amount property taxes can increase each year for as long as they own the property," according to the Howard Jarvis Web site.