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Senate Study Bill 2021

Bill Text

PAG LIN
  1  1    Section 1.  REPORT TO TASK FORCE TO STUDY STATE AND LOCAL
  1  2 TAXATION.  By October 1, 1998, representatives of the Iowa
  1  3 state treasurers association shall furnish a report to the
  1  4 task force, established by the legislative council, to study
  1  5 Iowa's system of state and local taxation.  The report shall
  1  6 recommend a process by which counties and the state can
  1  7 achieve the goal of providing a uniform tax statement design
  1  8 to be used statewide for tax statements issued for the fiscal
  1  9 year beginning July 1, 1999, and all subsequent fiscal years.
  1 10    Sec. 2.  Section 445.5, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph
  1 11 2, Code Supplement 1997, is amended to read as follows:
  1 12    If the person receiving the statement is not the
  1 13 titleholder of record or contract holder of record of the
  1 14 parcel, that person shall pay a fee at the rate of two dollars
  1 15 per parcel for each year.  The treasurer shall at the same
  1 16 time deliver to the titleholder of record or contract holder
  1 17 of record a copy of the statement when the statement is
  1 18 provided to someone other than the titleholder or contract
  1 19 holder of record for the purpose of paying property taxes due.
  1 20 However, for a list of tax statements requested as one
  1 21 document, whether prepared electronically or otherwise, the
  1 22 treasurer may negotiate a reasonable fee for the cost of
  1 23 preparing the document.
  1 24    Sec. 3.  NEW SECTION.  445.6  APPLICATION TO WAIVE TAX
  1 25 STATEMENT REQUIREMENTS.
  1 26    For the fiscal years beginning July 1, 1998, July 1, 1999,
  1 27 and July 1, 2000, a county may apply to the director of the
  1 28 department of management for a deferral in implementing the
  1 29 requirements of section 445.5, subsection 1.  For the fiscal
  1 30 year beginning July 1, 1998, the application for deferral must
  1 31 be received by the department within thirty days of enactment
  1 32 of this Act.  For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1999, the
  1 33 application for deferral must be received by the department on
  1 34 or before January 1, 1999.  For the fiscal year beginning July
  1 35 1, 2000, the application for deferral must be received by the
  2  1 department on or before January 1, 2000.
  2  2    An application for deferral must outline in detail the
  2  3 reason why the county is requesting the deferral and why the
  2  4 county is unable to substantially comply with the tax
  2  5 statement format requirements of section 445.5, subsection 1.
  2  6 When reviewing a county's application, the director shall,
  2  7 among other factors, consider whether or not the county
  2  8 contracts with, or otherwise uses the services of, accounting
  2  9 vendors or computer software vendors who have software that
  2 10 will facilitate the timely implementation of the tax statement
  2 11 format requirements of section 445.5, subsection 1.  A
  2 12 presumption arises that these counties are capable of
  2 13 complying with the requirements of section 445.5, subsection
  2 14 1.  The director shall notify the county treasurer of the
  2 15 director's decision within two weeks of receipt of a deferral
  2 16 application from the county.  If the director grants a
  2 17 deferral to a county, application of section 445.5, subsection
  2 18 1, is waived for that county.
  2 19    A county granted a deferral pursuant to this section shall,
  2 20 for the fiscal year for which the deferral is granted, provide
  2 21 with the tax statement an enclosure detailing comparative
  2 22 property tax data for each taxing authority in the county.
  2 23 The comparative data shall include the total amount of taxes
  2 24 levied by each taxing authority in the previous fiscal year
  2 25 and the current fiscal year, the dollar amount difference
  2 26 between the two amounts, and that same difference expressed as
  2 27 a percentage increase or decrease.  The treasurer shall also
  2 28 publish the comparative data in each official newspaper in the
  2 29 county as determined pursuant to chapter 349.  The comparative
  2 30 data enclosure and publication shall also contain a statement
  2 31 that the county received from the state a deferral from the
  2 32 timely implementation of the tax statement format
  2 33 requirements.
  2 34    For the purposes of this section and section 445.5, "taxing
  2 35 authority" means a public body which has the authority to
  3  1 certify a tax to be levied, including townships, school
  3  2 districts, cities, and counties.
  3  3    Sec. 4.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance,
  3  4 takes effect upon enactment.  
  3  5                           EXPLANATION
  3  6    House File 726, enacted in 1997, required county treasurers
  3  7 to send a tax statement to the taxpayer and to the titleholder
  3  8 or contract holder of record.  The legislation also required
  3  9 that the tax statement contain specified comparative
  3 10 information.
  3 11    This bill requires representatives of the Iowa state
  3 12 treasurers association to report to the legislative council's
  3 13 task force on Iowa's system of state and local taxation on the
  3 14 various impacts of requiring counties to include comparative
  3 15 tax information on the property tax statement.
  3 16    The bill also allows a county to defer implementation of
  3 17 the property tax statement comparative data requirements for
  3 18 fiscal years 1998-1999, 1999-2000, and 2000-2001 by filing an
  3 19 application for deferral with the department of management.
  3 20 For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1998, the application
  3 21 for deferral must be received within 30 days of the effective
  3 22 date of this bill.  For the fiscal year beginning July 1,
  3 23 1999, the application must be received on or before January 1,
  3 24 1999.  For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2000, the
  3 25 application must be received on or before January 1, 2000.
  3 26 The bill defines taxing authority to mean a public body which
  3 27 has the authority to certify a tax to be levied, including
  3 28 townships, school districts, cities, and counties.
  3 29    The bill also allows the county treasurer to negotiate a
  3 30 fee for tax lists requested which contain tax statement
  3 31 information for multiple parcels.
  3 32    The bill takes effect upon enactment.  
  3 33 LSB 3691SC 77
  3 34 sc/sc/14.1
     

Text: SSB02020                          Text: SSB02022
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