Lawmaker will try again on tax-deed sales bill

BOISE – A North Idaho lawmaker says he’ll try again next year, after the House narrowly defeated his bill to give the leftovers from tax-deed sales back to the property owner.

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, said people who are delinquent on their property taxes owe the back taxes, penalties and fees – but not all their equity. “Any remaining money should go to the property owner,” Hart said.

But opponents of the bill argued that neglectful homeowners who lose their property because of delinquent taxes don’t deserve any money, because they are given many opportunities by the county to resolve the problem. Currently, all the money from the sale is distributed to the taxing districts involved.

“I know the treasurers in the counties I represent go to extremes for the tax collection,” said Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover. “Even in the McGuckin case, they were given several opportunities … but they just didn’t cooperate.”

Hart said he thought the McGuckin case in Bonner County four years ago strengthened his argument. JoAnn McGuckin’s 40 acres on Garfield Bay in Bonner County were sold at auction for unpaid taxes after a standoff in 2001. Her children and pack of dogs held off law enforcement for five days.

McGuckin then sued the county to recover the difference between her $8,445 tax debt and the $53,000 the property drew at auction, but lost in court.

McGuckin’s “husband was dying of (multiple sclerosis) when they were trying to collect the taxes,” Hart said. “The family was overwhelmed. … You can’t treat every situation the same.”

The measure, HB 307, failed on a 32-36 vote. The only Panhandle legislators who joined Hart in voting for it were Reps. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, and Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries.

The bill included a 3 percent penalty on the total amount of the sale to be given back to the counties as well as a three-year limit for the owner to collect remaining funds from the sale.

However, the Idaho Association of Counties strongly opposed the legislation, arguing it took away any incentive an owner would have to resolve tax delinquencies on hard-to-sell property before the county gets involved.

Former Post Falls GOP Rep. Charles Eberle tried to get a similar measure through the Legislature last year, but failed after critics said his bill targeted the wrong section of Idaho law.