Opinion ID: 836010
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: amends constitution: limits assessed value of property for tax purposes; limits property tax rates

Text: Official Voters' Pamphlet, Special Election, May 20, 1997, 5 (emphasis added). Similarly, the yes vote result statement states: A `yes' vote adopts amendment limiting property taxes through restrictions on assessed value of property and property tax rates. Id. (emphasis added). Finally, the ballot title summary explains the measure, in part, as follows: This measure changes current provisions relating to property taxation. The measure establishes the maximum assessed value of property in this state for the 1997-1998 tax year as 90 percent of the property's real market value in the 1995-1996 tax year and then limits any increase in maximum assessed value for tax years following 1997-1998 to three percent per year   . This reduction will reflect Measure 47 cuts by basing the cuts on the lesser of the 1995-1996 tax minus 10 percent or the 1994-1995 tax, adjusted for voter-approved levies   . Id. (emphasis added). In describing Measure 50, the ballot title caption, the yes vote result statement, and the summary do not use the phrase each unit of property in this state. Rather, they refer to the assessed value of property. As we have explained above, the word property refers to the general class of things that can be owned, or, in the context of real property, to real estate in general. The use of the word property in the ballot title for Measure 50, rather than each unit of property, suggests that the voters intended the phrase each unit of property in this state in Measure 50 to refer to all the property in a property tax account. Reading the summary together with the estimate of financial impact bolsters that conclusion. The estimate of financial impact states that Measure 50 replaces Measure 47   . The summary, quoted above, states that the property tax reductions under Measure 50 will reflect Measure 47 cuts. As we have explained earlier in this opinion, Measure 47 dealt with ad valorem property tax on each property, and taxes on real property were not levied on the individual components of a property tax account. See ORS 307.010(1) (1995) (real property includes land and improvements). 2. Explanatory Statement We turn to the explanatory statement for Measure 50 that the 1997 Legislative Assembly provided. That statement first notes that, in 1996, the voters approved Measure 47, which limited the amount of property taxes that may be collected from each parcel of property. Voters' Pamphlet at 6 (emphasis added). The statement then explains that Measure 50 would replace the percentage of tax limitations in Measure 47 with a reduction in the maximum assessed value of property for the 1997-1998 tax year   . Id. (emphasis added). Notably, the explanatory statement describes the tax limitations in Measure 47 as applying to parcels of property and then draws a correlation between those limitations and the limitations in Measure 50. Moreover, in describing the differences between Measure 47 and Measure 50, the explanatory statement does not use the phrase each unit of property in this state. Voters who read the explanatory statement likely would have understood that the property tax limitation in Measure 50, like the limitation in Measure 47, applied to parcels of property. The explanatory statement thus suggests that voters intended the phrase each unit of property in this state to refer to all the property in a property tax account. 3. Legislative Argument in Favor of Measure 50 Finally, we turn to the legislative argument in support of Measure 50. That argument recommends a yes vote to ensure you receive the property tax relief expected under Measure 47[.] Id. at 7. The legislative argument in favor of Measure 50 also states that Measure 50 delivers the property tax relief that Measure 47 had promised to the voters, that Measure 50 maintains a 17% tax cut and a 3% growth cap as promised by Measure 47, that Measure 50 would save millions of dollars each year because it is easier and cheaper to administer than Measure 47 or Measure 5, and that Measure 50 maintains the funding priorities for schools and public safety that Measure 47 had promised. Id. Finally, the legislative argument in support of Measure 50 states that the measure rolls assessed property values back to 90% of their 1995-96 level. Id. Significantly, the legislative argument in support of Measure 50 does not mention the phrase each unit of property in this state or land and improvements as separate aspects of property. As we have explained above with respect to the explanatory statement, the use of the term property, and the references to Measure 47 in the legislative argument in favor of Measure 50, are an indication that the phrase each unit of property in this state in Measure 50 refers to all the property in a property tax account. [5]