A Minnesota House tax committee is considering a DFL-authored bill that calls for expansion of property tax relief to Minnesotans who experience a 6% property tax hike, reduced from the current 12% threshold.
Minnesota Realtors Association vice president of government affairs Paul Eger said he believes the revision may be enough to jump start Minnesota real estate market…
“The targeting property tax refund provides direct relief to homeowners who have large property tax increases from one year to the next. And because it provides direct property tax relief, it does not shift the property tax burden onto other property taxpayers. This bill will make homeownership a bit more affordable for many Minnesotans.”
Representative Mike Wiener believes the core issue in property taxes going up is governmental. The Long Prairie Republican says he feels the language of the bill falls short of changes that would make a significant difference…
“The unfunded mandates coming from the state is what’s driving these property taxes up. We’re not willing to pay for this at state government. We cannot push this down to the local entities. It has good intention and I think it looks good, but I don’t think it goes far enough.”
Richfield DFL Representative Michael Howard spoke in favor of the measure…
“We have a lot of data that says that people are staying in their homes longer than ever before. And a big reason for that is they don’t have other homes to move to that fit their needs and their life. The core challenge in our housing market is a massive supply-demand mismatch.”
The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.
(content: in part, courtesy MNN)
