Implementing new rules to exempt some elderly homeowners may be tougher than one lawmaker had hoped.

WMC-TV
April 1, 2007

The elderly tax breaks received overwhelming voter approval in a constitutional amendment vote last November.

Attorney General Bob Cooper wrote in an opinion released last week that local governments would not be allowed flexibility to determine at which income level a property tax freeze could go into effect.

That's not what Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris, of Collierville, had expected.

Norris said he had written the constitutional amendment with the intention of having the Legislature set the maximum income level to qualify for the tax freeze, allowing local governments to enact their own thresholds at any point equal to or below that figure.

Cooper says the amendment approved by voters does not allow that.

The attorney general did, however, leave open the possibility of lawmakers setting up different income caps for each of Tennessee's 95 counties based on income levels.

Mark Norris Official Web Site

Mark Norris Personal Web Site

Tennesse Senate Republican Caucus

Senator Mark Norris
303 War Memorial Building,
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0232
Phone 615-741-1967
1-800-449-8366

Email: Sen. Mark Norris