Senate Supports Property Tax Cap Vote

The State Senate has approved a measure to cut the growth of annual property tax increases. Senate Joint Resolution 5, by Sen. Jim Reynolds, was passed on Wednesday. The legislation would let Oklahomans vote to lower the current property tax cap of five percent to three percent.

“Thousands of Oklahoma citizens are begging for relief,” said Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. “This tax is especially difficult for many low-income and elderly people on fixed incomes.”

In 1996, Oklahoma voters approved a five percent cap on property value assessments. While the intention was to keep annual property tax increases under that cap, County Assessors have instead raised property taxes the maximum five percent each year.

“It’s gotten out of control. Since the mid-eighties, the average U.S. inflation rate has been 2.7 percent, but with the current five percent cap, people in many counties have seen their property taxes go up each year at nearly twice the rate of inflation, even when values have remained flat or even dropped,” Reynolds said.

Senate President Pro Tempore praised Reynolds and members of the Senate who supported SJR 5.

“If nothing is done, property taxes will continue to double about every 14 years,” Coffee said. “Sixteen other states have stronger safeguards for homeowners than Oklahoma. We need to act this year to give our citizens some relief.”

Reynolds added SJR 5 would not take away any money from schools or other county services.

“This simply limits the amount County Assessors can increase property taxes,” Reynolds said. “If approved by the people, this will promote and encourage home ownership and increase the quality of life in Oklahoma.”

The measure now moves to the House of Representatives.

Speaker’s tax woes continue

"cause I'm the Taxman,
...oooh, yeah
...I'm the taxman"
- Beat

Speaker’s tax woes continue

By MICK HINTON World Capitol Bureau
1/27/2008

OKLAHOMA CITY — House Speaker Lance Cargill missed the deadline to pay property taxes on his Harrah law office for six straight years, records at the Oklahoma County Treasurer’s Office show.

Cargill released a statement Friday saying he takes “full responsibility for this error.”

“I certainly apologize to the people of Oklahoma and to my colleagues and will take steps to ensure these matters are handled in a timely and efficient manner in the future,” he said.

Cargill, R-Harrah, is attending a National Conference of State Legislatures event in Florida. His press secretary, Jennifer Mock, said the speaker will take care of any property tax problems as soon as he returns to Oklahoma.

Although he has made all of the late payments on the taxes, Cargill still owes some penalties, Oklahoma County Treasurer Butch Freeman said.

Cargill “is one of my favorite kinds of taxpayers,” Freeman said. When taxpayers have to pay penalties and interest, those fees go to the treasurer’s office for operations, he said.

Cargill has had to pay penalties of $562.44, said Chris Tretheway, comptroller for the treasurer’s office.

Over the past six years, Cargill’s property taxes on his office have ranged from about $700 to $760 annually.

The chief beneficiary of property taxes are schools. Since Cargill paid these property taxes late, the schools did not receive their share until several months later.

Deliquent tax returns: Cargill’s delinquent payments represent another chapter in the speaker’s tax woes. He confirmed last week that he had failed to file both his federal and state personal income tax returns on time for 2005 and 2006.

Cargill said he was due a refund for both of those years on his state taxes.

Cargill has declined to release his tax returns to prove that he is owed refunds.

However, the head of the Oklahoma Tax Commission verified Friday that Cargill’s returns request refunds for both years. The speaker wrote a letter to Chairman Tom Kemp authorizing him to confirm that Cargill’s returns show he is due a refund.

Kemp said Cargill’s returns are currently being processed by the Tax Commission.

Cargill had not filed either federal or state tax returns for the two years but has now taken care of all of the paperwork that was due, his press secretary said Friday.

“The speaker does not want to release his tax returns because they are a private matter,” Mock said, as they are for all citizens.

Cargill has said he and his accountant were to blame for what happened.

Although he had filed for extensions, “those extensions lapsed without the final returns ever being filed,” Cargill said in a statement.

Cargill declined to provide the name of his accountant.

“She’s a private citizen. She’s already been very embarrassed, and as a private citizen, she shouldn’t be dragged into this,” Mock said. Cargill has repeatedly declined to talk about the issue publicly.

Asked at a midweek press conference on government modernization and efficiencies whether he would provide his returns, Cargill said, “I’ve made my statement on that issue.”

The day before, he released a statement that said: “I am human, and I made a mistake. No one is more upset about this than me, especially because I am owed a refund.”

There is no penalty for failing to file a tax return as long as a refund is due, provided they are filed within three years, Tax Commission officials said. However, it is against the law to fail to file.

Possible political fallout: The tax controversy has prompted conversations around the state Capitol about what effect this could have on Cargill’s political future.

The state chairmen of both political parties say the tax mistakes undoubtedly will not be forgotten.

Four other lawmakers, three Democrats and a Republican, also confirmed that they had failed to file state taxes, but none of them hold key leadership positions.

Asked if news of the tax filing problem could damage Cargill’s political future, GOP Party chairman Gary Jones said the news stories obviously have not gone unnoticed.

“When issues like this are brought up, it causes people to take a look,” he said.

“You are under the microscope if you are a state representative; you are under a bigger microscope if you are speaker, and (an even) bigger microscope if you are governor,” Jones said. “These are issues you have to deal with.”

Democratic chairman Ivan Holmes said reports that Cargill failed to file his taxes for two years are bound to emerge again in any of Cargill’s future races.

Holmes noted that at midweek, two Oklahoma City television stations were talking about the issue, and of 15 comments that came in to one station, “not a single one was defending the speaker.”

“They think any public official ought to take care of their tax business, because common people have to,” he said.

Mick Hinton (405) 528-2465
mick.hinton@tulsaworld.com

Speaker Paid Property Taxs late again

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Speaker Paid Property Taxs late again

"cause I'm the Taxman,
...oooh, yeah
...I'm the taxman"
- Beatles

Speaker paid property tax late on office
By Nolan Clay and Randy Ellis
Staff Writers
Sun January 27, 2008

Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill was delinquent in paying property taxes on his Harrah law office six years in a row, an investigation by The Oklahoman revealed.


"I take full responsibility for this error,” the Republican leader said Friday in a statement prepared after flying to Florida for a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"I certainly apologize to the people of Oklahoma and to my colleagues, and will take steps to ensure these matters are handled in a timely and efficient manner in the future,” Cargill said.

Oklahoma County Treasurer Butch Freeman said, "He's one of my favorite taxpayers because we make a lot of money on him in interest and penalty.”

Cargill has faced widespread criticism over the last week for other tax problems.

The Oklahoman reported Cargill failed to file his 2005 and 2006 personal income tax returns until getting a Jan. 7 warning from the state Tax Commission. Cargill blamed a miscommunication with an accountant.

Cargill, who is an attorney, fell behind months on many of the property tax bills on his law office, county records show. His company, Harrah Professional Partnership, bought the office in September 2001.

The property tax on the first year was paid on time but payments have been late every year since, records show.

Local school districts are the biggest losers when Oklahoma property owners fail to pay their real estate taxes on time.

More than half of the real estate taxes on Cargill's law office were designated for support of Harrah schools, records show.

Smaller amounts go to support other schools in the county, the city of Harrah, Oklahoma County government, the library system, the Oklahoma City-County Health Department and a Choctaw technology center.

Most of the original tax bills on the law office have been about $700 or less for the year. Cargill was supposed to pay at least half by Dec. 31 each year.

He or his company has had to pay a total of $562.44 in penalties, interest and fees by paying the taxes late. None of the late fees go to the schools.

The property taxes on Cargill's home are handled by a mortgage company and have been paid on time, the treasurer said.

In his statement, Cargill said, "Unlike my home, my business property taxes are not automatically paid because the business is owned outright and there is no mortgage.”

Cargill sent in a $1,623.93 check — dated Jan. 10 — to pay his overdue 2007 and 2006 property taxes on his law office, records show.

The 2006 tax was more than a year overdue. The 2007 tax, at that point, was just days overdue.

The check was not enough to cover both years, because of interest on the 2006 bill, and Cargill will be notified he must pay more, the treasurer said.

Cargill's $752.66 property tax bill for 2007 will be considered delinquent until a full payment comes in, Freeman said.

Cargill was eight months late in paying his 2005 property tax on the law office, the records show.

The $811.12 check covered the tax, penalty and interest.

Harrah Professional Partnership was more than seven months late in paying the 2004 property tax on the law office. The check was for $731.15.

Cargill paid the 2003 property tax on the law office more than seven months late. The check was for $780.52.

Harrah Professional Partnership also was more than seven months late in paying the 2002 property tax on the law office. The check was for $775.65.

The treasurer said Cargill apparently took care of the late payments most years after getting delinquent tax notices.

Those notices are mailed in July.

Only 3.12 percent of property owners had failed to pay their 2006 real estate taxes as of June 30, the treasurer said.

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