2 pilots plot a revolt over property taxes

HUNTSVILLE — As far as appearances go, neither Richard Sorensen nor his neighbor D-Bell come off as storm-the-Bastille types. Clean-cut and casual-dressing, the only revolution they look likely to start is maybe a lobby for a longer lunch hour.

They live blocks apart in what may be the most tranquil setting in the entire state — downtown Huntsville looks like Norman Rockwell painted it on his best day — and neither one is on the verge of bankruptcy. Sorensen, 43, is a pilot for Northwest Airlines and Bell, 63, is a retired F-16 pilot who spoils his grandkids.

So what exactly prompted these two mild-mannered, middle-class gentlemen to organize something called "Wingmen for Property Tax Reform"?

Why are they so fired up that they want to change the state constitution and drum every status quo tax traditionalist out of the Legislature?

Their answer actually lies in their prosperity.

"Life is too good here," says Sorensen, "to mess it up with an insane property tax system."

"We need to get this fixed before it's too late," says Bell.

"This" is Utah's market-reflexive property tax system. When real estate prices rise, property taxes rise proportionately. During boom times, such as at the moment, that means taxes double right along with house prices.

The financial hit can be enormous. In some cases, a tax bill might as well be an eviction notice.

In Huntsville and surrounding Ogden Valley, where second-home sales and burgeoning winter resorts have Realtors driving Benzes, that scenario has been playing out too often.

For Sorensen, who grew up in Huntsville working at his father's grocery store, it's been hard to watch people who have lived in the same house for decades suddenly have to face the hard cold fact that their new tax bill leaves them with two choices: rob a bank or move.

"I'd like to protect the people who have lived here all their lives and still want to live here," he said.

"The idea to change the tax structure started out as a Huntsville thing," he said. "Then real quick we realized we have to take it to the state level to get it fixed."

The fix, Bell believes, hinges on Utah changing to a "simple, understandable" property tax system like Oregon's.

Oregon responded to a similar real estate-inflation crisis by assessing property values based on their worth at acquisition — without adding Realtors fees and landscaping improvements — and then mandating that taxes across the board would be one percent of the assessment and could increase by no more than 2 1/2 percent per year.

It is not dissimilar to the sweeping simplified tax changes on vehicles Utah implemented a few years ago.

Under such a system, Bell said, "You could replace every assessor in this whole state with one Dell (computer)."

The crusading pilots have set up a blog — dbelltax.blogspot.com — as a clearinghouse for people who want to become involved.

"We need to start a tsunami that will take over the whole state, from Snowville to St. George," said Sorensen.

That's storming the Bastille, Huntsville style.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.