In recent years, residents of Washington State would think little of Governor Gregoire calling a special session of the legislature simply because it has become a very common occurrence as of late. However, in November of 2007, when the Governor called her first special session, it was unexpected. The special session was called for the purpose of reinstating a 1% limit, or cap, on property taxes.
The first limit on property taxes
was passed by the legislature in 1971 and only affected regular property taxes
at the local level. This limit required
that any property tax levy not exceed 106% of the highest amount of revenue received
from any levy in the preceding three years.
Eight years later, the legislature extended this same provision to state
property taxes, as well.
A couple decades later, Washington State
voters passed Referendum 47, which required additional limits on top of the
106% limit. Beginning in 1997, taxing
districts with a population over 10,000 could only increase regular levies by
the inflation rate or 6%, whichever was smaller.
Not long after, in 2000,
Initiative 722 (I-722) was passed. I-722
limited future property tax increases to 2% and rolled back certain property
tax increases levied in the year 2000.
The State Supreme Court ruled I-722 unconstitutional because it was not
limited to a single subject.
With the help of Tim Eyman, voters
were back at it in 2001 with I-747, which restricted property tax increases to the
lesser of inflation or 1%, sending legislators a clear message that property
taxes were growing too quickly and they wanted that growth curbed. Six years later, the State Supreme Court
overturned I-747 stating that it didn't include proper disclosure to
voters. In other words, the court believed
voters didn't fully know what they were voting on.
The legislature and Governor
Gregoire disagreed and quickly called a special session in late 2007. House
Bill 2416 reinstated the 1% levy limit established by I-747 and remains
intact today.
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