Cox calls on State Senate and House of Representatives to act now to provide property tax relief to homeowners and small farmers.

Livonia, MI -  “Everyday I meet working men and women and small farmers who tell me that they worry about losing their homes because it is harder and harder to pay their property taxes” stated Mike Cox today.  “And the only current possible solution is a constitutional amendment that has had problems getting the needed signatures to make the ballot.”

“It is clear that voters’ frustration is from the lack of action by Lansing, with only Speaker Hall and some legislators even talking about the problem. So today I propose three legislative legs of a Homeowners Protection Act to provide needed relief to any homeowner or small farmer from overly burdensome property taxes”.  

1. Move all millage elections to the November ballot.
   
   To address the main driver of ever-increasing property taxes which is local millage bond proposals that are hidden from even the most attentive citizen, as Governor, Mike Cox would lead the Legislature to enact amendments to the Michigan’s Election Law and the General Property Tax Act to restrict any millage municipal or school board millage proposals (whether imposing a new millage or increasing or renewing an existing millage) to only the November General Election ballot.   
   
   Current House Bills 4583 and 4584 sponsored by Representatives Matt Maddock, Ben Paquette, and Timmy Bezon provide the legislative tools to provide homeowners with the a shield against out-of-control local governments that seek to hide tax increases.  Cox lives in Livonia.  This past summer the Livonia City Council tried to sneak a $150 million bond millage to build an unneeded new city hall on the ordinarily low turn-out August council primary date.  Fortunately, concerned voters organized and voted down this boondoggle.  However, too often, these sneak attack millages go unnoticed and jack up homeowners’ property taxes to fund local unnecessary government pork projects.   
   
   This one reform alone empowers voters, makes millage elections more transparent, and provides long term property tax relief to all homeowners, job creators, and small farmers.    
   

2. Provide seniors on a fixed income with exemptions from property taxes.
   
   Too often seniors or others on fixed incomes are overly burdened with rising property taxes (most often driven by new millages).    Currently, Senator Michelle Hoitenga has sponsored SB 272 which provides an exemption to all homeowners over the age of 70 who live fulltime in their homes. Representative James DeSana, Matt Maddock, Joseph Fox, and Jason Woolford have sponsored HB 4379 that seeks to provide property tax relief for “seniors”.   The Legislature should use these two bills as starting points to consider and provide property tax relief to seniors (at whatever age it decides) who have fixed incomes (depending on legislative findings) and struggle to keep their homes under the strain of property tax payments.  
   

3. Exempting homeowners and farmers from state property tax mills.
   
   This is an additional way to provide property tax relief to Michigan’s homeowners and small farmers.  Representatives DeSana, Maddock, Fox, and Woolford have sponsored HB 4373 and 4374 to amend the State Education Tax Act and General Property Tax Act, respectively, to provide relief to homeowners and farmers (owners of property zoned agricultural) from state property tax mills.  These bills also provide a way to provide property tax relief right now for all property owners in Michigan.  And these two bills do so in a way that entrenched bureaucratic interests cannot claim that the Legislature is defunding local police and fire departments.  Again, these bills do need hearings to consider varied issues such as whether wealthy developers or corporate farming conglomerates should receive the same relief as homeowners or small farmers.  

Cox urges the Legislature to begin considering these ideas this Fall, especially moving all millage elections to November general election dates, to fashion property tax relief with the tools the Legislature possesses right now.  The people of Michigan should not have to wait on a constitutional property tax proposal to provide homeowners with property tax relief.