Democrats Want To Give Homeowners A Bigger Break

Six Democratic legislators want to expand the homeowner’s exemption from property taxes.

The six - Reps. Ken Robison of Boise; Jim Stoicheff of Sandpoint; Marvin Vandenberg of Coeur d’Alene; Wendy Jacquet of Ketchum; and John Alexander and Elaine Hofman of Pocatello - have introduced two bills. They would:

Expand the exemption to include the lot as well as the house.

Allow the $50,000 limit on the exemption for the house to rise with inflation.

Robison noted that homeowners didn’t benefit as much as other property owners from last year’s $40 million property tax cut.

The Homeowner’s Exemption, which Robison helped write, now exempts 50 percent of the value of an owner-occupied home from property tax, up to a $50,000 maximum.

, DataTimes