Tax break approved for seniors

Outcome closely scrutinized by state's older homeowners

By LEE ANN O'NEAL, Tennessean.com
November 8, 2006

Older homeowners saw victory in a state referendum that would grant cities and counties the power to exempt some of them from rising property taxes.

The measure would let counties and cities decide whether to implement the program and absorb the lost property taxes. Property taxes for low-income homeowners 65 years and older would be frozen even as their home values or local tax rates increase.

Claude Weingand, of Hendersonville, volunteered with AARP Tennessee to promote the measure in the state legislature. He said the measure could keep some seniors from losing their homes as tax bills outpace their fixed incomes.

"Most of us are aging, our good friends are dying off, our families in many cases live away," said Weingand, 77, a retired Protestant minister. "My only tether to comfort and security is my home. If I lost that, where would I go? … That's the way a lot of seniors look at this."

With 97% of precincts reporting, voters showed overwhelming support for the measure.

"It's really a lot more clear than I would have thought," AARP state legislative director Brian McGuire said. "We're really gratified that voters recognized the importance of tax fairness."

Income guidelines are not set out in the proposed amendment to the state constitution. Sen. Mark Norris, a Collierville Republican and sponsor of the tax-relief measure, has said he will propose them when the legislature reconvenes in January. Norris said the guidelines should be fixed in legislation instead of written into the state constitution so they can be easily changed later.

If a qualified owner's home were sold to a person not meeting the tax-relief guidelines, the new owner would then pay the full amount of taxes.

The constitutional amendment also would require qualified seniors who make major home improvements to pay the full taxes owed on those improvements, Norris said.

Tennessee's population 65 and older is expected to more than double from 1995 to 2025, going from 658,000 to 1.355 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Senator Mark Norris
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