Rep. Scott Louser: Time for the State to Take Over K-12 Spending to Eliminate Local Property Tax Burdens

Property taxes are consistently at the top of the list of voter concerns every election cycle and as the calendar year draws to a close, property owners will be anticipating their annual bill.

While the legislature does not assess property, levy the mills, collect the taxes or spend the revenue, we are involved in the property tax in the form of buy downs and education spending.

Property tax reform is necessary and while no proposal is perfect, here is a summary of a bill draft I’ll be proposing next session.

The concept is that the legislature would provide 100% of K-12 funding based on the education budgets of public schools in the previous year. Currently, the state funds approximately 82% of K-12 education. As the state takes responsibility for education funding, the mills for education would be eliminated at the local level.

In exchange for this inc…