Posted by: thepinetree on 04/14/2015 05:41 PM
Updated by: thepinetree on 04/14/2015 05:41 PM
Expires: 01/01/2020 12:00 AM
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Senator Gaines Fire Tax Bill Passes Out Of Committee
Sacramento, CA...In his continued efforts to fight against the illegal fire tax, Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado Hills) announced today that his Senate Bill 250, which would lengthen the time homeowners have to pay or protest the annual $152.33 fee, passed out of the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance with unanimous, bipartisan support and is now on its way to the Senate Committee on Appropriations...
“Problems with timely mail delivery can be an issue in mountain and rural areas of my Senate District,” said Senator Gaines. “The current deadline does not allow residents in these communities, many of whom are on fixed-incomes, nearly enough time to pay or protest their fire fee bills before they start accruing penalties. I look forward to this bill receiving continued support as it makes its way through the Legislature.”
Senate Bill 250 would give anyone who owns a property within a State Responsibility Area (SRA) 60 days to pay or dispute the yearly fire-prevention fee, rather than the 30 days the existing law provides.
If a taxpayer misses the 30-day cutoff date to appeal the fee they must first pay the fee and then file a claim for its refund, should a judge ever order the state to refund the payments. SB 250 would add California to the list of 20 other states that give homeowners at least 60 days to file such petitions.
The fire tax is an annual levy imposed on the owners of more than 800,000 properties in the state that are within the boundaries of SRA. According to census and Cal Fire data, Senator Gaines’ largely rural district includes roughly 20-percent or approximately 160,000 of the properties whose owners are subject to the fee.
Senator Gaines has been a leading critic of the tax and has introduced numerous pieces of legislation in previous years that attempted to provide relief for rural Californians. He also strongly supports the lawsuit filed against the state by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association challenging the fee on constitutional grounds.
Senator Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District, which includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
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