Revision: March 16, 2011, midnight
HB 316 – AS INTRODUCED
2011 SESSION
10/09
HOUSE BILL 316
AN ACT relative to due process requirements in property appraisals for property tax purposes.
SPONSORS: Rep. Manuse, Rock 5; Rep. Warden, Hills 7; Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Kurk, Hills 7; Rep. Sapareto, Rock 5; Rep. Burt, Hills 7; Rep. Antosz, Rock 9; Rep. Lambert, Hills 27; Rep. J. Roberts, Straf 7; Rep. McGuinness, Hills 20; Sen. De Blois, Dist 18; Sen. Carson, Dist 14; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3; Sen. Barnes, Jr., Dist 17
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
This bill removes the penalty of loss of appeal for property owners who refuse to grant consent to assessing officials to inspect their property, and provides for the use of an inventory blank for the necessary property information. The bill also revises the requirements for the taxpayer inventory blank and the penalty for willfully misrepresenting the information on the inventory blank.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11-0797
10/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to due process requirements in property appraisals for property tax purposes.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Statement of Purpose.
I. The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 19, prohibits government or its agents from searching property without a warrant supported by oath or affirmation. The Fourth Article of Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America also prohibits government or its agents from searching property without a warrant, upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. The government can not use the purpose of taxation to circumvent the protection of private property rights secured in constitutional law.
II. The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 15, prohibits government or its agents from depriving citizens of their property, immunities, or privileges without the due process of law. The Fifth Article of Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America also protects a citizen’s right to due process of law before that citizen can be deprived of private property. The government can not use the purpose of taxation to violate the due process rights of a citizen, especially not as a punishment for that citizen’s effort to exercise a separate protected right to private property.
III. Therefore, the general court of New Hampshire asserts that the government or its agents can not use the purpose of taxation to circumvent private property rights or the right to due process under the law.
2 Taxpayer Inventory Blank. Amend RSA 74:4, II-III to read as follows:
II. The blank shall require the person or corporation to be taxed to provide the required information [under] subject to the penalty [of perjury] provided in RSA 74:12. The blank shall require the taxpayer to sign in one place for all information submitted, including any application for eligibility for exemptions.
III. The blank shall require the following information:
(a) A description of all real estate taxable to the person or corporation;
(b) Other information needed by the assessing officials to assess all the taxable property of the person or corporation at its true value[;].
[(c) A census of all persons occupying the premises as of April 1, by name and age.]
3 Elimination of Inventory Blanks; Exception Added. Amend RSA 74:4-a, I to read as follows:
I. Any municipality, by vote of its board of selectmen, city council or board of aldermen may elect not to utilize the inventory form or procedure. Except as provided in RSA 74:17, such a vote shall automatically exempt all property owners and others within that municipality from all requirements and provisions of law relating to the inventory form, including the requirement of filing an inventory in a complete and timely manner in order to retain all [appeal rights on property tax or other] exemptions and considerations to which they may legally be entitled.
4 Penalty for Failure to File Inventory Blank. Amend RSA 74:7-a to read as follows:
74:7-a Penalty for Failure to File.
I. Any person in a municipality utilizing the inventory form and procedure who willfully fails to file a fully completed inventory form on or before April 15, unless granted an extension under RSA 74:8, shall pay a penalty [of one percent of the property tax for which the person is liable. In no case, however, shall the penalty be less than $10 or more than $50. Any person who fails to file an inventory form and who becomes liable to pay the penalty specified in this section shall lose the right to appeal the denial of an abatement of an appraisal under RSA 75:1, but shall not lose the right to apply for, or appeal the denial of, any other type of tax relief including an appeal under RSA 72:34-a, an appraisal under RSA 75:11, or a land use change tax under RSA 79-A:7] as provided in RSA 74:12. This penalty has all the force of taxation and shall be treated as incident to the tax.
II. If a town fails to deliver the inventory blank, the penalty [of loss of appeal rights] shall not apply.
III. If the property is transferred during the tax year to a different owner and the inventory blank was mailed or delivered to the previous owner, the penalty [of loss of appeal rights] shall not apply to the subsequent owner.
5 Inventory of Taxable Property; Penalty; Doomage Removed. Amend RSA 74:12 to read as follows:
74:12 [Doomage] Penalty. If any person or corporation shall willfully omit to make and return [such] a taxpayer inventory blank, or [to answer any interrogatory therein contained] shall willfully omit the information necessary on such inventory blank to complete the appraisal, or shall make any [false statement] willful misrepresentation therein[; or if the selectmen or assessors shall be of opinion that the inventory returned does not contain a full and correct statement of the property for which the person or corporation is taxable; or that the person making the same has willfully omitted to give required information, or has made false answers or statements therein], the selectmen or assessors shall ascertain, in such way as they by law may be able, and as nearly as practicable, the amount and value of the property for which the person or corporation is taxable, and shall [set down to such person or corporation, by way of doomage, 4 times as much as such property would be taxable if truly returned and inventoried] assess a penalty as follows:
I. If the failure was not due to willful misrepresentation, in the amount of 10 percent of the difference between the final assessed value as determined by the selectmen or assessors and the assessed value for the previous tax year; or
II. If the failure was due to willful misrepresentation, in the amount of 50 percent of the difference between the final assessed value as determined by the selectmen or assessors and the assessed value for the previous tax year.
6 Property Taxation; Inspection of Property. Amend RSA 74:17 to read as follows:
74:17 Inspection of Property.
I. If the selectmen or assessing officials are unable to obtain consent to enter property for the purpose of obtaining information necessary to complete [any inventory under this chapter or] an appraisal under RSA 75, they may [obtain an administrative inspection warrant under RSA 595-B] cause a taxpayer inventory blank, as described in RSA 74:4, to be supplied to the property owner. The property owner may complete and submit the inventory blank within 30 days of its receipt for the purpose of providing the necessary information.
II. [Any person who refuses to grant consent to the selectmen or assessing officials to enter property for the purposes in paragraph I shall lose the right to appeal any matter pertaining to the property tax for which such person is liable and the right to appeal any exemptions for which such person may be entitled but has not yet received.] In order to proceed with an abatement request under RSA 76:16 or an appeal of a decision on an exemption or credit for which such person may be entitled but has not yet received, the property owner shall be required to have completed and submitted the taxpayer inventory blank.
III. If the selectmen or assessors allege willful misrepresentation by the property owner on the taxpayer inventory blank submitted under this section, the selectmen or assessors may obtain, upon probable cause to believe that a property owner has willfully misrepresented his or her inventory blank, an administrative inspection warrant under RSA 595-B. For a determination under this paragraph, the provisions of RSA 595-B:2, II shall not apply. If a warrant is issued and upon inspection of the property there is clear and convincing evidence that the property owner willfully misrepresented his or her inventory blank, the property owner shall be subject to the penalty provided in RSA 74:12.
7 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 30 days after its passage.