The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee amended HB 2745 today, reinstating revenue-neutral and giving voters a chance to veto property tax increases that exceed the rate of inflation.
The bill approved by the House allowed a protest petition to give voters a chance to stop tax increases above 3%, but multiple exemptions could easily have allowed increases of 5% or more without triggering a petition. A successful petition would stop increases above the limit if signed by 5% of the voters in the previous Secretary of State race within the jurisdiction. The Senate Tax Committee amended it to 10% of registered voters at the beginning of the year, and if successful, there would be no property tax increase.
Rather than 3% plus exemptions, a protest petition is now triggered if any local government entity wants to go beyond revenue-neutral plus inflation, which is based on the Consumer Price Index for Midwest Urban Cities.
If the full Senate passes the bill, it goes back to the House, where members could vote to concur and accept all changes, send it to a conference committee to negotiate differences with the Senate, or kill it by declaring it materially altered.
