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Property tax cap petition: Organizers in Elko to collect signatures

By JOHN SENTS - Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:47 PM PDT

ELKO - Former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle and former Assemblyman Don Gustavson were in the Elko area this week getting signatures for a property tax cap petition that would ensure such taxes would not rise exponentially during times of rising property values.

The two have traveled across the state seeking signatures on the ballot initiative, which is spearheaded by a group called We the People Nevada. Organizers must collect at least 10 percent of the number of people who voted in the last election - more than 58,000 signatures from registered voters - by May 20 to qualify for the November election.

Angle and Gustavson made stops at the Elko post office, Department of Motor Vehicles and Khoury's to seek signatures. The group has received a good response, said Angle, chairwoman of We the People.

“(The petition) will keep us from being taxed out of our homes,” she said.

The group guarantees that property taxes would be “stable, predictable and something they could budget for every year.”

The constitutional amendment would roll back home values to 2003-04 and impose a 1 percent property tax rate on that value. Thereafter, property taxes would increase by no more than 2 percent a year or the cost of living, whichever is lower.

Angle said there are seniors being forced from their homes because they can't afford to pay the property taxes any more. There are also young people who are seeing rising mortgage payments, she said.

If the group obtains enough signatures, the decision would go to voters this November. It must be passed in a vote again in 2010 to amend the state constitution and go into law.

Angle said the group seeks volunteers to collect signatures. It also accepts mail-in signatures. Forms can be downloaded at wethepeoplenevada.org.

Signatures must be notarized and sent to We the People, P.O. Box 33331, Reno, NV., 89533 by May 18. For information contact Angle at 775-787-6017 or angle@iglide.net.

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