By Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY – A Senate panel on Wednesday passed a measure to reduce the caps on property valuations despite concerns it could create huge disparities in property tax payments.
Senate Joint Resolution 39 would reduce the 3% cap annual property values on homesteads and agricultural properties by a percentage point. The cap on other valuations would drop to 3% from 5%.
The measure would require a vote of the people.
Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, said the measure could result in two identical homes on the same street being taxed at dramatically different levels and questioned whether the measure would disproportionately affect first-time homebuyers.
“Long-time owners benefit,” she said. “New buyers shoulder more of the burden. That’s not reform. That’s imbalance.”
Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, who authored the bill, said it was an effort to slow the growth of property taxes and allow seniors to stay in their homes by reducing the financial burden for those on a fixed income.
Paxton said the top issue for constituents is education, but property taxes are second.
“There’s not a ton of objection to the concept of property taxes from the people that I have talked to,” he said. “It’s the issue of the fact of how it goes up.”
If the valuation goes up every year, it can run people out of their homes, Paxton said.
As a result of increased valuations, school bond issues are starting to fail, he said.
“Voters just think they have had enough,” he said.
While valuations can go down, it is rare, Paxton said.
Currently, assessors are not allowed to raise valuations above the caps until the property is sold, Paxton said.
Hicks said that for years, the state’s property tax system has suppressed assessed values below the actual market. The gap has grown wider over time, with assessed values lagging behind reality.
“Revenue for schools, counties, fire departments, libraries and roads lag too,” she said.
Those entities rely on revenue from property taxes.
Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, said the bill was a good start, but more needed to be done.
The measure passed the Senate Rules Committee by a vote of 16-2 and heads to the Senate floor.
