Sunday, September 24, 2006
Using surplus wisely
We support Gov. John Hoeven’s plan for North Dakota homeowners to get a 10 percent cut on their property taxes for each of the next two years, a plan that would cost the state $116 million over two years.
The plan is simple: County tax officials will calculate property taxes as they normally do, then simply reduce the tax by 10 percent. Owners of farm land and commercial property would get a 5 percent cut in their tax bills.
Opponents of the plan say the Hoeven administration has had the opportunity to push such an initiative before, but waited until two months before the election to announce the plan. Other Democrats say the plan doesn’t go far enough, that the plan doesn’t offer anything new for education funding.Certainly the timing of the announcement could be criticized, but saving such plans for election time isn’t anything new. The average citizen doesn’t care when the plan is rolled out – they’re just happy that property taxes would be cut 10 percent for the next two years.
With a projected budget surplus of more than $500 million, North Dakota is sitting pretty well right now. The obvious goal is to use that money in ways to best help everyone, including property tax relief and education funding. Hoeven says the property tax initiative won’t change his plan to push lawmakers to increase state aid to schools by at least $60 million over the next two years.
If the state can spend some of the surplus on property tax relief, some on education funding and save some for a time when we may not have a surplus, that makes sense to us. This sounds like a great plan.
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