Gibbons Capitol Report-Take Control of your Property Taxes, Part 2-082107

Gibbons Capitol Report
August 21, 2007

Take Control of Your Property Tax Rates: Part 2

Tonight is the perfect opportunity for you to take control of your property tax rates. The St. Louis County Citizens for Tax Relief Now are hosting a Property Tax Rollback and Reform Rally before the start of the St. Louis County Council meeting. The rally will be from 5-6 p.m. in the plaza between the county courthouse and Lawrence K. Roos building on Central Ave. in Clayton. Following the rally, participants will then attend the council meeting in order to ask the council members to rollback their tax rates. Now is your chance to get involved in the process to make sure taxing jurisdictions don’t benefit from windfalls at your expense due to reassessment.

Rolling Back Property Taxes

Missourians adopted the Hancock Amendment to the constitution that set out to protect taxpayers. One way it does that is by limiting the amount property taxes can increase to either 5 percent or the current Consumer Price Index(rate of inflation), whichever is lower. Right now, Missouri’s rate of inflation is set at 2.6%. Because of this limitation, taxing jurisdictions that are at their tax rate ceiling must roll back their rate to make sure taxpayers don’t see increases higher than inflation. In St. Louis County, there are 249 taxing jurisdictions, but 79 of those are not operating at their tax rate ceiling. That means, legally, those 79 jurisdictions don’t have to roll back. Morally, I believe they should rollback. That’s where the role of the taxpayer becomes so important.

Taking Control

Asking your taxing jurisdictions that are not currently operating at their tax rate ceiling to roll back is the best way to take control of your property taxes. By taxpayers coming together to rally and ask the St. Louis County Council to roll back their tax rate consistent with the spirit of the Hancock Amendment, taxpayers can collectively save up to $12.7 million. By working with other taxpayers ask taxing jurisdictions to rollback, taxpayers can protect themselves from tax increases caused by reassessments.

To learn more about the St. Louis County Citizens for Tax Relief Now visit their website at http://www.stlcountytaxreliefnow.com/

A list of the current tax rates and tax rate ceilings of all taxing jurisdictions in St. Louis County is available online at http://www.senate.mo.gov/, click on the link for the Pro Tem’s Page, and click on Residential Property Tax Information.