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Property Tax Relief Bills Before Legislature By Joe White, Nashville Public Radio Tennessee lawmakers will have a chance tomorrow morning to take up the issue of a property tax freeze for the elderly, so far a matter of concern mostly to county tax officials. Two bills which could be vehicles for such a tax freeze are in the Senate State and Local Government Committee tomorrow. Mark Norris, the Senate Republican Leader, has been dealing with dollar signs and demographics in his bill that sets different income caps in different counties. He says the best way to establish eligibility for the tax freeze is to go by income and not other items considered wealth - such as art, cars or real estate. “The constitutional amendment gave an alternative to focus either on income or wealth. It didn’t say income and wealth, and it’s too cumbersome to try to come up with a formula that deals with wealth and so everyone so far seems to be comfortable focusing upon income.” Not so fast says House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. Naifeh complained last week that Republicans in the Senate had not kept House leadership – Democrats - informed about the work being done on the bill. Naifeh says everything should be on the table. “What is wealth? You know, we gotta take all those things into consideration.” Naifeh’s allies will have their turn on Wednesdaywhen the same two bills are on the agenda of the House Local Government Subcommittee. |
