House passes property tax Christmas list
Because that's all it is: a bill that spells out what they would like to happen. One-time nine percent rebates to homeowners only; if you are a renter, then screw you. Just about every DFL amendment that was put forward to attempt to pass some kind of long-term property tax reform was ruled "out of order", meaning that nobody had to take any tough votes on replacing the wish list with something meaningful.
Oh, and this will only happen if the state wins its lawsuit with the tobacco companies over the tobacco "fee" that was passed last year. Yep, because of Pawlenty's cuteness in not calling a tax a tax, the money that some would like to use to send bribes...er, "rebates" to homeowners may disappear. Plus, the Senate really doesn't seem to keen on passing the bill either. So don't spend those checks yet.
posted by MN Politics Guru @ 21:56
4 Comments:
The tax rebate is a Property Tax Rebate. Now excuse me for being educated, but renters do not pay property taxes. Only home owners pay property tax.
In response to the Professor, renters do pay a portion of their landlord's property taxes when they,thats right, pay rent in proportion to the expense of owning and maintaining the property.
Fun argument. Strictly speaking, renters pay rent. The owner of the rental property is responsible for paying the property tax. However, I know of few property owners who wouldn't pass tax increases on to tenants in the form of higher rent. Whether or not they would also pass property tax rebates on to the tenants is questionable.
I was living in an apartment several years ago, and I have a really vague memory of a tax form that we could fill out to get some sort of rent credit or something. I think I passed on it because it just wasn't a cost effective use of my time to fill in the paperwork for the paltry sum I would have received.
My guess is that NONE of us will receive a rebate because Pawlenty's playing fast and loose with his tax terminology is going to bite him in the butt, and we will have to come up with $$ to cover the cigarette "fee" that will be revoked. Morons!
Another issue with this was the way that Steve Sviggum ruled every amendment out of order during the debate. Rep. Melissa Hortman, one of the DFL moderates who rarely speaks out on the more partisan issues, made a good speech about how the House ought to be the most democratic body in the state.
Sadly, the house GOP was using the special "DeLay rules" as they ran the House this week. They didn't allow anyone to vote on any significant changes to the bill. It'd be one thing if any of the proposed changes were voted down, but to be ruled "out of order," is nothing but a power trip. You'd expect better in a good government state like Minnesota.
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