05/09/2008
CONTACT: Mike Hickey, 651-293-1283 or Tony Malandra, 415-664-9685
From Mike Hickey, Minnesota state director for the National Federation of Independent Business
NFIB has around 14,000 small business members in the state. It is supporting Gov. Tim Pawlenty's property tax proposal.
"We have tried just about every other form of levy limit and for the most part, they have not worked. Governor Pawlenty's proposal would limit most local government property tax increases to the previous year's plus 3 percent growth, or the growth percentage of the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lesser. Local governments that desire to raise their property taxes higher than that would need to submit the proposal to the voters in a referendum.
"I encourage conference committee members to back the governor's proposal. This really needs to happen. The property tax issue at the Capitol is virtually an eternal one and unless something this significant passes, we will never come to grips with this issue.
"It gives local governments the flexibility to increase property taxes above the rate of inflation, but they would need to convince voters of the need to do so. This is a significant improvement over anything that has been tried lately.
"A very generous levy limit was enacted in 2001 when the large property tax reform passed, but due to its design, it allowed some cities to increase taxes close to 30 percent and still be under the limit. Large property tax increases pose a real burden on commercial property owners as well as homeowners. The time is right for this proposal."
