About this Site, House Bill 44, and Property taxes in KY:
This site is dedicated to reducing the cap on Kentucky’s property taxes to 1%, or less, from the current 4% as spelled out in HB 44, and drafted in 1979, because we are convinced the current formula for Property Taxes is a scam against Kentucky Property Owners.
1. In 1979 HB 44 was passed to cap property taxes at 4%. But today people still find their taxes rise above 4% and sometimes as high as 13%. So around 2005/6, we felt that Kentuckians were being scammed and taken advantage of and worked to stop this. Enough was enough!
2. By 2009 Cindy Arlinghaus (Cindy Rich) the Boone County PVA discovered that the "formula" used to compute property taxes was very suspect and asked for an opinion from the KY Attorney General, who, for political purposes, found the formula ok. Yeah right.
3. Property taxes fund many government and quasi-government groups. There is a page on this site showing over 100 of these groups.
Two of these groups, Kentucky League of Cities and Kentucky Assoc. of Counties, were busted for literally pissing away our Property tax dollars on hookers, strip clubs, escort services, and the list goes on.
In fact, what these two groups did was investigated by the KY State Auditor, Critt Luallen, and the full report is listed on its own page.
4. For those who do not want to read all of this there is a short video speaking to the above. Simple. Fast. Easy.
There are also videos and newspaper stories talking about Property Tax revolts.
HOW THE SCAM WORKS:
In 1979, Kentucky Legislators passed HB 44 which allows "Taxing Districts/Entities" such as counties, libraries, cities, schools, health agencies, area planning commissions, etc., to raise the taxes on our homes ( called REAL PROPERTY), up to 4 % WITHOUT voter approval. Any increase in REAL PROPERTY taxes over 4% MUST meet voter approval.
But any tax increase above 4% RATE for TANGIBLE PROPERTY (a businesses' inventory, furniture, fixtures, anything of tangible value), need not be voted on.
And this, my dear Kentuckians, is the scam!
Every year the amount collected for REAL PROPERTY from the previous year AND the amount collected on TANGIBLE PROPERTY are added together and then the new tax RATE is calculated!
Simple explanation: If your property tax is raised 3% from the previous year, and taxes on the businesses in your county are raised 10% from previous year, the totals are added together and THIS RATE is your rate!
It's wrong because it adds the averages for REAL and TANGIBLE property together. BAD MATH.
Additionally, HB 44 has a "COMPENSATING RATE" in it which states that NEVER can a taxing district ever take in LESS $$$ than the year before!
See the Letter from Boone County PVA, below.
December 1, 2009
For Immediate Release from Cindy Rich, Boone County PVA:
Boone County PVA Cindy Rich
Seeks Attorney General Opinion on Tax Rate Increases
After discovering tax rate increases by several taxing districts in Boone County appear to be more than
the legal limit, Boone County PVA Cindy Rich has requested an opinion of the Attorney General to clarify
whether or not property tax rates are calculated correctly. Attorney Rick Brueggemann filed the request
on the behalf of Rich and Boone County Commissioner Cathy Flaig yesterday.
Under House Bill 44, no taxing district can receive an increase in revenue from one year to the next in
excess of 4% without the consent of taxpayers. “The way the tax rates are currently being calculated,
there is often a built‐in rate increase of much more than 4%, sometimes 9‐10%,” Rich, a certified public
accountant, said. “The public deserves to know what increase is actually being taken by some of these
taxing districts.”
According to Brueggemann, “The intent of HB 44 was to limit increases in property tax revenues to 4%
over the prior year.
Voters must be given ballot access to challenge rate increases that result in a greater
percentage. It is apparent that the tax rate increases of some jurisdictions violate the intent of
House Bill 44.”
Rich’s attention came to the issue after the emergency reassessment by the Department of Revenue in
2007. As a result of the reassessment, property values increased significantly, but the tax rate did not
decrease to assure the County’s final revenue was no more than 4% above that of the previous year.
A perfect example of this discrepancy came to light last year during the taxpayer petition drive to lower
the Boone County Library Board tax rate. The library is one of several taxing districts in the County that
have been taking advantage of a misinterpretation of House Bill 44, creating opportunities to collect
more taxpayer money than is legally permitted. Rich led the ballot initiative which eventually resulted in
the library board’s lowering of its real and personal property tax rate, disallowing their ability to raise
the revenue more than 4%.
Rich also presented the issue to the Boone County Fiscal Court but got little response from any of the
court members other than Flaig who is a candidate for Judge‐Executive in 2010. “When Cindy came to
the Fiscal Court meeting and raised the calculation issue, I became concerned that the calculation
method used by the county’s staff and the State were allowing a greater rate increase than provided by
law.
If so, it is very misleading and needs to be corrected immediately. Boone County citizens are already
overtaxed and this appears to add insult to injury.”
Rich explained that the problem only occurs in taxing districts that have higher tax rates on personal
property than real property. Not all taxing districts have such a disparity.
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