Property Tax Modifications

Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the bill give municipalities the authority, upon voter approval, to levy a lodging tax up to the same rate and for the same purposes allowed to counties to be collected, administered, and enforced by the state. The bill prohibits, commencing on and after January 1, 2027, any municipal tax on lodging or on the business of providing lodging that is not a municipal lodging tax adopted in accordance with the requirements of section 3. An existing municipal tax on lodging or on the business of providing lodging adopted on or before December 31, 2026, is allowed to continue under the bill. However, there can be no tax rate increase, expansion of tax base, or material change in uses of the tax revenue absent adoption of a municipal lodging tax that is in accordance with the requirements of section 3. Section 4 clarifies that, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in any case in which the income approach is used to determine the actual value of any lodging property, the assessor shall include "net rental income" and "resort fee income", each income amount capitalized to value at a rate typical within the relevant market in the actual value of the lodging property. "Net rental income" means the net operating income generated from payments made in connection with the rental of the lodging property, including any unit within or connected to the lodging property, whether or not the unit is individually and separately owned, after the deduction of expenses typical in the relevant market and excluding any rents remitted to a unit owner for use of the owner's unit. "Resort fee income" means the net income generated from the collection of any fee or charge, however denominated, by the property, that is retained by the property but does not include any fee or charge amounts that the property remits to any county, city, city and county, special district, or other local government. Sections 5 and 6 extend the portable qualified-senior primary residence benefit created for property tax years 2025 and 2026 to future property tax years. Section 7 changes the state property tax exemption for business personal property, commencing on and after January 1, 2027, by setting the exemption threshold for such property at $60,000, without an adjustment for inflation, and by eliminating the reimbursement provision for property tax losses due to the exemption. Sections 8 and 9 subject the municipal lodging tax authorized by section 3 to the department of revenue's administrative scope and mandatory electronic filing and payment requirements.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)