S-0930.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5495

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Senators Snyder and Zarelli

Read first time 01/25/1999.  Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

Repealing a restriction on regular property tax levies.

    AN ACT Relating to regular property tax levies; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 84.55.015.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A taxing district's property tax levy is limited to an increase over its previous levies.  RCW 84.55.015 was originally enacted to address the situation of a taxing district that had no previous levies.  However, the legislature enacted RCW 84.55.092 in 1986 to remove the incentive for taxing districts to maintain high levies in order to protect their future levy capacity.  RCW 84.55.092 allows a taxing district's levy to be based on the assumption that the district had levied at the maximum rate since 1986.  Since this also applies to a taxing district that has not imposed a levy in the past, RCW 84.55.015 is no longer necessary and is repealed in section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  RCW 84.55.015 and 1979 ex.s. c 218 s 4 are each repealed.

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