With the defeat of Question 3 from the most recent election, I believe people are beginning to see the absolute detriment of changing the Nevada constitution in ways that aren’t sustainable. Another hurdle along those same lines that we’ll be facing in the 2019 Legislature is SJR14. While Question 3 was in the final stages of becoming a constitutional amendment, SJR14 is a constitutional amendment near the beginning of the process, with time to stop it before it gains too much steam.
The proposed amendment would change the way property taxes are assessed in Nevada. Having passed the 2017 Legislature, it now must pass the 2019 Legislature and then it would go on the ballot in 2020. If passed, this amendment would be detrimental to property owners and will have a devastating affect on the fluidity of a real estate market which, many agree, makes for shaky ground.
Essentially, were it to pass, SJR14 would require that property taxes reset at a much higher rate, in some cases doubling or tripling, each time a property is sold. According to Washoe County Assessor, Michael Clark, “SJR14 removes the property tax cap and all depreciation the first fiscal year after the sale of the property.”
Clark, along with Janine Hansen, president of Nevada Families for Freedom, have co-founded a coalition to stop this bill from going any further in the legislature.
“We have moved into an era of confiscatory taxation,” said Hansen. “This particular piece of legislation, upon the sale of a home, would increase the property taxes, in many cases doubling it or more, both for homes and for businesses.” We all know how that’s working out for California.
According to Clark, some real examples of this can be seen by looking at the current taxable value of property being sold. Speaking of a parcel in Washoe County, Clark said, “Taxes with abatement were $7,706 for 2017. Based on taxable value, they would have been $17,766. With the implications of SJR14 the 2017 taxes on this parcel would be $21,165.”
Hansen added, “What this does is suck all of the money out of the private sector, which is the productive sector of society and puts it into the government sector, which is non-productive. It will definitely decrease money available for anything in the private sector. And, it could certainly up the numbers of people that will lose their home due to property taxes.”
Call to Action: There is time to stop this from happening. Go to CoalitiontoStopSJR14.org to sign up for updates as this bill moves through the 2019 Legislature. When possible, attend hearings on SJR14 and email your elected officials letting them know you oppose this increase. Hansen said it best when she concluded that, “the government never has enough money. It doesn’t matter when, how or why, they never have enough money; they always want more. If we allow them, they would take 100 percent of what we have. That’s how they are, they just continue to increase property taxes.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
By Whose Authority?
For more information on my Commentary and to see some of my backup research, or if you wonder why I take the position I take, go to www.LyleBrennan.com.