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                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1307

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State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Phillips, Holland, Wang and Appelwick; by request of Department of Revenue

Read first time 1/20/89 and referred to Committee on Revenue.

AN ACT Relating to the equalization of property taxation; and amending RCW 84.48.080.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 84.48.080, chapter 15, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 24, chapter 222, Laws of 1988 and RCW 84.48.080 are each amended to read as follows:

          Annually during the months of September and October, the department of revenue shall examine and compare the returns of the assessment of the property in the several counties of the state, and the assessment of the property of railroad and other companies assessed by the department, and proceed to equalize the same, so that each county in the state shall pay its due and just proportion of the taxes for state purposes for such assessment year, according to the ratio the valuation of the property in each county bears to the total valuation of all property in the state.

          First.  The department shall classify all property, real and personal, and shall raise and lower the valuation of any class of property in any county to a value that shall be equal, so far as possible, to the true and fair value of such class as of January 1st of the current year for the purpose of ascertaining the just amount of tax due from each county for state purposes.  In equalizing personal property as of January 1st of the current year, the department shall use the assessment level of the preceding year.  Such classification may be on the basis of types of property, geographical areas, or both.

          Second.  The department shall keep a full record of its proceedings and the same shall be published annually by the department.

          The department shall levy the state taxes authorized by law:  PROVIDED, That the amount levied in any one year for general state purposes shall not exceed the lawful dollar rate on the dollar of the assessed value of the property of the entire state, which assessed value shall be one hundred percent of the true and fair value of such property in money.  The department shall apportion the amount of tax for state purposes levied by the department, among the several counties, in proportion to the valuation of the taxable property of the county for the year as equalized by the department:  PROVIDED, That for purposes of this apportionment, the department shall recompute the previous year's levy and the apportionment thereof to correct for changes and errors in taxable values reported to the department after October 1 of the preceding year and shall adjust the apportioned amount of the current year's state levy for each county by the difference between the apportioned amounts established by the original and revised levy computations for the previous year.  For purposes of this section, changes in taxable values mean a final adjustment made by a county board of equalization, the state board of tax appeals, or a court of competent jurisdiction and shall include additions of omitted property, other additions or deletions from the assessment or tax rolls, or a change in the indicated ratio of a county.  Errors in taxable values mean errors corrected by a final reviewing body.

          The department shall have authority to adopt rules and regulations to enforce obedience to its orders in all matters in relation to the returns of county assessments, the equalization of values, and the apportionment of the state levy by the department.

          After the completion of the duties hereinabove prescribed, the director of the department shall certify the record of the proceedings of the department under this section, the tax levies made for state purposes and the apportionment thereof among the counties, and the certification shall be available for public inspection.