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Tennessee lawmakers advance property tax breaks for elderly homeowners WMCTV.COM Implementing the new rules to exempt some elderly homeowners from property tax hikes has not been as simple as Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris - the measure's main sponsor - had hoped, despite overwhelming voter approval for a constitutional amendment on the issue last November. Attorney General Bob Cooper wrote in an opinion released last month that despite Norris' claims, local governments would not be allowed the flexibility to determine at which income level a property tax freeze can go into effect. Norris, of Collierville, said he had written the constitutional amendment with the intention of having the Legislature set the maximum income level to qualify, while allowing local government to enact their own thresholds at any point equal to or below that figure. But Cooper said the text of the amendment approved by voters does not reflect Norris' wishes. As currently constructed, the bill would set separate income limits for each county, based on the average income of all residents between the ages of 65 and 74. Anyone 65 or over making less than the median income would be eligible to be exempt from future increases in their property tax. According to figures from the state, median incomes for people in that age group range from a low of $16,594 in Hancock County on the Cumberland Plateau to a high of $52,185 in the Nashville suburb of Williamson County. The measure has been advanced to a vote in the Senate Finance Committee next week. A 1979 law to create a property exemption for the elderly fell to a legal challenge by county commissioners who feared an erosion of their local tax base. |
