BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to a property tax credit for residential property; amending RCW 84.52.080 and 84.56.050; adding a new section to chapter 84.52 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 84.55 RCW; providing a contingent effective date; and providing for submission of this act to a vote of the people.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 84.52 RCW to read as follows:

(1) There is allowed a credit against state and local regular real property taxes equal to the tax imposed on the first twenty-five thousand dollars of assessed valuation of residential property, adjusted to the state equalized value in accordance with the indicated ratio fixed by the state department of revenue. The credit in any tax year shall not exceed the amount of regular property taxes imposed on the property.

(2) The credit in this section is in addition to any other property tax relief that may be provided by law.

(3) As used in this section, "residential property" means a single-family dwelling unit, regardless of whether such unit shares a common wall with one or more other units, including the land upon which such dwelling stands, and that is owned in its entirety either by a natural person or persons, a housing cooperative, or a trust. "Residential property" also includes a mobile home that has substantially lost its identity as a mobile unit by virtue of its being fixed in location upon land owned or leased by the owner of the mobile home and placed upon a foundation (posts or blocks) with fixed pipe connections with sewer, water, or other utilities. "Residential property" does not include a dwelling unit primarily used in the conduct of a commercial enterprise or a dwelling unit located upon real property that is primarily used in the conduct of a commercial enterprise. Property is considered primarily used in the conduct of a commercial enterprise if more than one-half of the total square footage of the property is devoted to commercial use.

Sec. 2. RCW 84.52.080 and 1989 c 378 s 16 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The county assessor shall extend the taxes upon the tax rolls in the form herein prescribed. The rate percent necessary to raise the amounts of taxes levied for state and county purposes, and for purposes of taxing districts coextensive with the county, shall be computed upon the assessed value of the property of the county; the rate percent necessary to raise the amount of taxes levied for any taxing district within the county shall be computed upon the assessed value of the property of the district; all taxes assessed against any property shall be added together and extended on the rolls in a column headed consolidated or total tax. In extending any tax, whenever it amounts to a fractional part of a cent greater than five mills it shall be made one cent, and whenever it amounts to five mills or less than five mills it shall be dropped. The amount of all taxes shall be entered in the proper columns, as shown by entering the rate percent necessary to raise the consolidated or total tax and the total tax assessed against the property.

(2) After entering the amounts under subsection (1) of this section, the county assessor shall compute the amount of credit authorized under section 1 of this act for each parcel of property. The credit allowed for any property shall be extended on the rolls in a column headed tax credit. The county treasurer shall subtract the amount of the credit from the total tax and enter this amount in a column headed tax payable.

(3) For the purpose of computing the rate necessary to raise the amount of any excess levy in a taxing district which has classified or designated forest land under chapter 84.33 RCW, other than the state, the county assessor shall add the district's timber assessed value, as defined in RCW 84.33.035, to the assessed value of the property: PROVIDED, That for school districts maintenance and operations levies only one-half of the district's timber assessed value or eighty percent of the timber roll of such district in calendar year 1983 as determined under chapter 84.33 RCW, whichever is greater, shall be added.

((~~(3)~~)) (4) Upon the completion of such tax extension, it shall be the duty of the county assessor to make in each assessment book, tax roll or list a certificate in the following form:

I, . . . . . ., assessor of . . . . . . county, state of Washington, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct list of taxes levied on the real and personal property in the county of . . . . . . for the year ((~~one thousand nine hundred and~~)) . . . . . .

Witness my hand this . . . . day of . . . . . ., ((19)) . . . .

.................. , County Assessor

((~~(4)~~)) (5) The county assessor shall deliver said tax rolls to the county treasurer, on or before the fifteenth day of January, taking receipt therefor, and at the same time the county assessor shall provide the county auditor with an abstract of the tax rolls showing the total amount of taxes collectible in each of the taxing districts.

Sec. 3. RCW 84.56.050 and 1991 c 245 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) On receiving the tax rolls the treasurer shall post all real and personal property taxes from the rolls to the treasurer's tax roll, and shall carry forward to the current tax rolls a memorandum of all delinquent taxes on each and every description of property, and enter the same on the property upon which the taxes are delinquent showing the amounts for each year. The treasurer shall notify each taxpayer in the county, at the expense of the county, of the amount of the real and personal property, and the current and delinquent amount of tax due on the same((~~; and~~)). The treasurer shall have printed on the notice the name of each tax ((~~and~~)), the levy made on the same, the amount of any credit under section 1 of this act, and the tax payable. The credit authorized in section 1 of this section shall be prorated among the taxing districts levying a tax against the property in the proportion that the taxing district's regular property tax bears to the total regular property tax on the property. The county treasurer shall be the sole collector of all delinquent taxes and all other taxes due and collectible on the tax rolls of the county((~~: PROVIDED, That~~)).

(2) The term "taxpayer" as used in this section shall mean any person charged, or whose property is charged, with property tax; and the person to be notified is that person whose name appears on the tax roll herein mentioned((~~: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That~~)). If no name so appears the person to be notified is that person shown by the treasurer's tax rolls or duplicate tax receipts of any preceding year as the payer of the tax last paid on the property in question.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 84.55 RCW to read as follows:

In order to prevent a shift in taxes in future years from residential property receiving a credit under section 1 of this act to other property, the amount of taxes that may be levied by a taxing district under this chapter shall be reduced by any reduction in taxes for the appropriate year resulting from the tax credit under section 1 of this act and levies collected before any reduction under this section shall not be used as a base for calculating limits for state levies for collection in following years.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. This act shall take effect for taxes payable in 1998 if the proposed amendment to Article VII of the state Constitution (SJR . . .) (S-5294.1/96) is validly submitted to and is approved and ratified by the voters at a general election held in November 1996. If the proposed amendment is not so approved and ratified, this act shall be null and void in its entirety.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act shall be submitted to the people for their adoption and ratification, or rejection, at the next succeeding general election to be held in this state, in accordance with Article II, section 1 of the state Constitution, as amended, and the laws adopted to facilitate the operation thereof.