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Show Classified property tax possible SALT LAKE CITY - If the proposed con-situtional con-situtional amendment to revise the Utah tax article ar-ticle is approved by the voters at the 1982 general elections in November, Utah would have the beginnings of a classified property tax. This point was made by Utah Foundation, a private tax research organization, in a study released this week. Under a classified property tax, certain types of property (such as business property) are assessed and taxes at higher rates than are other property classes (such as residential property). The Foundation Foun-dation observed that this practice often has considerable con-siderable political appeal, ap-peal, because of the large number of homeowners in relation to the number of owners of business. Although most states have a de facto classified property tax resulting from assessment inequities, only ten states, the District of Columbia, plus several counties in Illinois have formal provisions for property assessment classification. Minnesota has the nation's oldest and most . elaborate system of property classification, consisting of numberous classes and subclasses with assessment ratios ranging from 5 percent to 50 percent of market value. Proponents of classification argue that the cost of homeownership can be reduced by shifitng part of the cost to others through a classified property tax. The argue that 1. Home ownership is a social objective that should be encouraged. 2. For the most part, owner-occupied residences are not in-come in-come producing properties. 3. Business usually is better able to pay the property tax than is the private homeowner. 4. In some cases, taxes paid by business may be passed on to out-of-state residents. 5. Since many states already practice de facto classification, constitutional con-stitutional classifications merely legalizes what has been the actual practice. Opponents of classification, on the other hand, argue that the practice has long-range long-range effects, which are detrimental to the very groups that it was designed to aid. They point out that discriminatory business taxes inevitably reduce the community's ability to raise the productivity oif its economy. This results in a loss of jobs and a lower tax base to support governmental services, the long-run effect of classification, therefore, could be higher, rather than lower taxes. Included among the specific charges against classification are the following 1. It legislates discriminatory and inequitable taxation, destroying the fundamental fun-damental theory of taxation based on the ownershiD of wealth. 2. It has a bad effect on economic development by' driving ' existing businesses from the community and ' discouraging new ones from entering. |