Property tax measure advances

A proposal to increase a popular property tax exemption for Idaho homeowners won the endorsement of a key legislative committee Thursday.

If approved, the bill would increase the assessed value that a homeowner can exempt from taxes to $75,000. The exemption created in 1982 allows $50,000 to go untaxed. The new measure would increase the exemption annually, pegged to the inflation rate.

Homeowners in areas of high population growth have been clamoring for change as property values – and taxes – soar. Homeowners now bear 63 percent of Idaho’s $1.1 billion property tax burden, and some say that’s unfair.

A proposal to expand property tax relief for the poor, elderly and disabled also cleared the committee.

But plans to let voters increase local sales and use tax rates to offset property taxes went down to defeat, as did a plan to raise the sales tax rate by a penny.

Park initiative: A new tourist lodge at Ponderosa State Park near McCall would be built and operated entirely by a private group, and the $6.6 million the state earmarked for construction would be spent on outstanding maintenance needs at other state parks, under a revised Experience Idaho parks project proposal unveiled Thursday by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.

The changes are in response to criticism from lawmakers about the project’s priorities and its financial feasibility, Lance Giles, Kempthorne’s policy adviser, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

Gay marriage: An anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment passed the House on Monday and cleared a Senate committee on a 5-4 vote Friday. It’s now in the Senate, where a similar measure died last year. If it clears the Legislature with a two-thirds vote, it would go before voters in November.

Field burning: Two bills were introduced in a House committee to promote field burning, one by allowing burning on some farmlands where it’s now prohibited, and the other awarding legal fees to farmers who are sued unsuccessfully.