A group seeking reductions in property taxes has filed its second initiative and will soon hit the streets to collect the 230,047 signatures of registered voters needed to put their twin measures in the November 2008 ballot.
The petitions actually have been re-filed a few times to ensure that the language is not susceptible to court challenges, according to Marc Goldstone of the Arizona Tax Revolt.
This second petition, patterned more closely after California’s Prop 13, would roll back property values to 2003 levels.
Newer properties will also use the 2003 valuation baseline, he said.
“This eliminates most of the increase in taxable value caused by real estate price inflation since 2003, benefiting the owners of existing property, new purchasers, and those making improvements,” he said.
Tax calculation would shield taxpayers from market fluctuations
Under the initiative, property taxes will be computed based on the “uniform property valuation,” which Goldstone said is not revalued at sale, and would thus shield taxpayers from fluctuations in the real estate market.
Similar to California’s Proposition 13, any annual increases in valuation is limited to 2 percent plus new construction.
 But unlike the California law, which opponents contend has led to disparities of property taxes paid between old and new owners of roughly similar houses, Goldstone said the group’s initiative would not result in new owners paying more taxes as a result of inflation.
“What it will mean is that the people that saw substantial, way above average increases, will see a nice reduction,” he said.
The first petition, the Property Tax Levy Rollback, was filed last month, mandates taxing entities to return to the levy levels of 2005, with exceptions if certain spending limits are achieved. Any hike in the levy thereafter would be capped at 2 percent plus the value of new construction.
Under the initiative, two-thirds of voters would also have to approve in a general election any levy increase in excess of 2 percent plus the value of new construction.
It also sets a mechanism to make it easier to further reduce levies. Under the measure, 10 percent of voters may petition a taxing entity to reduce the levy by up to 20 percent of the previous year’s rate. If the entity fails to act within two months of the petition’s submission, then it shall be submitted for a vote during a general election.
Goldstone said 15,000 sets of each of the group’s two ballot initiatives will initially be printed in the coming days, with more to come off the press in the coming months.
He urged people to donate cash and to volunteer because the group is facing steep printing costs, not to mention legal bills.
The success of these campaigns depends to a large extent on the ability to raise cash to fund them, and that is why if people want to see their property taxes reduced and limited, they should help out, he said.
Goldstone said some 100 volunteers would circulate the petitions and urged store managers to bend their “no solicitation” rule and allow them to gather signatures at their stores.
The group needs a lot of help, and at the top of their list is cash. The initial printing will cost some $6,000, and legal fees for the work on the actual petition text have amounted to a sizable sum, according to Goldstone.
He asked people to visit their Web site, www.arizonataxrevolt.org to volunteer or donate cash or do both.