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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I respectfully offer a differing opinion and would encourage
you all to do some research before taking a position on this. I am against an
increase in the homestead exemption and in fact, I think we should eliminate it
altogether rather than increase it. I believe we must instead continue to push
for accurate property value assessments to ensure that each property owner is
paying his/her/its fair share rather than have the property tax burden
shouldered disproportionally by so few property owners. If we all paid our fair
share, the burden on each would be lessened and we'd have more money to spend
to improve </span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Louisiana</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>. There IS a connection b/t the
homestead exemption and the deplorable state of </span></font><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Louisiana</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> schools,
for example. Things are improving, thankfully, due to a variety of recent
reforms, and ending the sacred cow of the homestead exemption is another reform
we should consider. Again, just offering a respectful differing opinion.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b>
marignybywater-bounces@marigny.org [mailto:marignybywater-bounces@marigny.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Drunah Drunah<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Thursday,
January 22, 2009</span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>10:05 AM</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> marignybywater@marigny.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [MarignyBywater] Sign
petition to increase Homestead Exemption</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>I'm not sure how many of you have
signed this, but with the insurance increases faced by property owners this
year, especially with Fair Plan doing a 7% increase, everything continues to go
up. I encourage all of you that live in </span></font><font size=2
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Louisiana</span></font><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> to sign
this. <br>
<br>
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/lahomeex/petition.html</span></font></p>
<div style='margin-left:22.5pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><a name=cutid1></a><font size=2
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><br>
<br>
Thousands sign petition asking for homestead exemption to be raised<br>
by Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune<br>
</span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Thursday January 22, 2009</span></font><font size=2
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>, </span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>9:00 AM</span></font><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><br>
<br>
BATON ROUGE -- Almost 22,000 </span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Louisiana</span></font><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>
residents have signed an electronic petition launched last month to urge
lawmakers to increase the homestead exemption, the author of the petition said
Wednesday.<br>
<br>
Joshua Kahler, who is affiliated with a New Orleans real estate firm, said
about 2,000 people a day are going online to sign their names, urging
legislators to increase the tax-exempt portion of a home from $75,000 to at
least $160,000.<br>
<br>
Under existing law, a homeowner is not taxed on the first $75,000 of a home's
value but must pay property taxes on 10 percent of the assessed value of the
property over that level, based on various millages for local governmental
bodies.<br>
<br>
Kahler said as the national recession deepens and individuals are having to dig
deeper to pay property taxes, the first $170,000 of a home's value should be
exempt from taxes.<br>
<br>
As of </span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>5 p.m.</span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> Wednesday, the petition -- at
www.PetitionOnline.com/lahomeex/petition.h<wbr>tml -- had 21,836 electronic
signatures.<br>
<br>
Kahler said he hopes to get 100,000 names on the petition by the time the
annual legislative session opens April 27 at </span></font><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>noon</span></font><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>. He
said he launched the petition drive during "Christmas week as a glorified
letter" to the Legislature and hoped to gather 10,000 names by the time
the session started.<br>
<br>
In less than a month, he said, he doubled his original projections and feels
100,000 signatures is "totally achievable."<br>
<br>
State law does not allow citizens to put issues on the ballot for a vote, but
Kahler said he wants to gather enough names as a show of sentiment by a large
segment of the population.<br>
<br>
The petition states that the "benefits of the homestead exemption and the
need to increase it for inflation have never been more important. Homeowner
taxes continue to increase as property values increase while the amount of the
exemption remains fixed" and unchanged from the $75,000 level since 1980.
"If adjusted for inflation alone, the homestead exemption today would be
more than $160,000, according to the petition.<br>
<br>
The petition states that lower tax rates make home ownership more affordable
and make the state "more attractive to new businesses and . . . easier for
existing businesses to remain open."<br>
<br>
The petition calls on lawmakers to pass legislation to exempt the first
$170,000 "or an amount reflecting the actual rate of inflation" at
the time the measure is adopted, whichever figure is greater. It also calls for
"mandatory adjustment of the homestead exemption against inflation every
four years."<br>
<br>
Jefferson Parish Assessor Lawrence Chehardy said he gave Kahler permission to
use some of the assessor's letters about the need to raise the exemption.
"I think it is wonderful," Chehardy said of the drive. He said the
assessors hope to use the petition to help pass legislation to raise the
exemption.<br>
<br>
Legislation increasing homeowner tax breaks traditionally draw the opposition
of local school board officials, business lobbyists and groups such as the
Public Affairs Research Council and the Council for a Better Louisiana, both
statewide issues-oriented research organizations.<br>
<br>
Schools and other local government operations depend on property taxes for much
of their financing.<br>
<br>
Increasing the tax break on homes, "shifts the burden to renters and
business, and business is already paying about 80 percent of the property taxes
now," PAR President Jim Brandt said.<br>
<br>
CABL President Barry Erwin agreed: "This just redistributes the tax
burden. It means somebody else pays. We already have one of the highest
homestead exemptions in the entire country."<br>
<br>
. . . . . . .<br>
<br>
Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810. <br>
<a
href="http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/thousands_sign_petition_asking.html">http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2<wbr>009/01/thousands_sign_petition_asking.ht<wbr>ml</a></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Windows Live™ Hotmail®…more than
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