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State Representative Mary Franson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3201
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Market Value Homestead Credit
2012 property tax statements should be arriving in the mail, affectionately known as the "truth in taxation" statement; it will tell you the size of your 2012 property taxes. This reflects a wake-up call to city and county governments.
Since 2003, the state had failed in the last seven of eight years to pay the full Market Value Homestead Credit "reimbursement". When the local government received less of the expected reimbursement, they either raised property taxes to cover the difference or cut spending. The state made promises it couldn't deliver. Moreover, there was no accountability or requirement that cities and counties detail how they spent some $261 million dollars each year sent to them via the MVHC program.
The bottom line is that unless cities and counties reduce their budgets for 2012, property taxes will increase even without an increase in their levies. This will hit the commercial and industrial entities the worst. They do not get the benefit of the exclusion, but if budgets are not reduced they will bear the brunt of the property tax increase burden.
Douglas County increased their levy by 7.79 percent for 2012. The county at a maximum should be limiting its levy to actual resources from a year ago, meaning levy plus any MVHC reimbursement. If a local government entity does not reduce their levies, they will actually be increasing the property tax burden.
Some will argue they have to levy back the lost reimbursement. Other local governments will work to prevent that. Anoka County reduced their levy by 5.2% and their overall spending by 7%. Stearns County reduced their levy by 1%. This demonstrates that it is a choice of local government on what to do with a loss of revenue whether from net taxable market value or from a non-working state program.
Representative Mary Franson
News Items
- Legislative Update (May 24, 2013) - (Posted: May 24 2013 2:09PM)
- Legislative Update (May 17, 2013) - (Posted: May 17 2013 1:48PM)
- Legislative Update (May 10, 2013) - (Posted: May 10 2013 4:06PM)
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