Finance Subcommittee #2 advanced a slate of split-rate property tax bills for specific cities and a statewide school construction sales tax measure while unanimously tabling a broader statewide split-rate property tax bill and unanimously reporting a fix for surviving military spouses left with unexpected tax bills by a 2024 constitutional amendment.
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Chair Watts raised that lines 19-20 of HB72 state the rate on improvements 'shall not exceed the rate of tax on the land,' meaning land is always taxed at a higher rate than improvements, and questioned whether this was consistent with witness descriptions. Terry Wilson ultimately confirmed: 'Yes, ma'am,' land would be taxed at the higher rate. Delegate Garrett separately pressed Preston Bryant on the logic, asking 'I don't understand how having a lower rate for vacant land encourages the construction of improvements on land,' and Bryant responded that 'if you have a vacant property and it's a lower tax rate, it can encourage developers or others to come in and improve that land,' though Garrett noted the land would then no longer be vacant.
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“If it is truly good policy, which I believe it is, then why would we not make it optional across the entire state rather than having all sorts of individual different carve outs?”
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Sign in to subscribeAll right. All right. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Finance Subcommittee 2 where we deal with local tax infrastructure and authority here. So glad to be here with this committee. I have the clerk first to open the roll for attendance. Technical difficulty. May we do a voice roll call? There it is. Members, indicate that your presence here on the screen. Clear close world, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm so sorry to have this confusion on your first meeting of chairing. But I wanted to make sure that the audience understood as well as the viewing audience that I had announced at full committee that the two members on this committee would be Delegate Ware and Delegate Walker. And there has been a little confusion on that. So while you're seeing on attendance Runyon and Walker, it will be in fact as announced, Delegate Ware and Walker. And that change has been. The clerk is making even probably as I speak. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Aquorum is present. So again, the Committee on Subcommittee 2 on Finance Committee dealing with local tax infrastructure will now come to order. The very first thing we…
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