Quincy Reporter

State Sen. Jil Tracy (Quincy) is promoting legislation that would amend the property tax code to clarify between permanent structures and temporary buildings.

Tracy made her comments during a debate on the Senate floor on Feb. 25.

"This bill is about the protection of a real estate issue and real estate taxpayers," Tracy said. "It amends the property tax code to clarify between permanent structures being assessed as real property and temporary buildings or temporary structures that are not permanent fixtures. The language added is that building structures that are not permanently attached to the land are not considered property for the purpose of this code."

Tracy explained that she was compelled to introduce the bill after hearing from one of her constituents that was being taxed for a non-permanent structure. 

"Now, the reason I bring this is because a constituent had one of those buildings that you see at Lowe's or along the roadside that is a little structure the size of two desks here. He keeps it on skids — these little pallet-type things. So that he can run it around his farm for use to store things or wherever he needs it. But it’s not permanent and is not attached to the ground. The local assessor assessed it as a fixture and this ran him about $20 extra per year, however, it’s something that was important to him because he didn’t think that was right."

The bill passed the Senate unanimously and will now go to the House for debate and vote.

It was introduced February 2021, but nothing happened with the bill between April and January 2022.

Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is sponsoring the bill in the House.