West Central Reporter

Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) is celebrating the Senate passage of a real estate tax bill that distinguishes between temporary and permanent taxable structures.  

"This bill is about the protection of a real estate issue and real estate taxpayers," Tracy said during a Feb. 25 debate on the issue. "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."

Tracy said her inspiration for pushing the bill came from a constituent who found themselves dealing with such a situation.

"A constituent had one of those buildings that you see at Lowes or along the roadside that is a little structure the size of two desks here,” she said. “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."

Senate Bill 2154 now advances to House for debate and vote, where Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) is the chief sponsor.

"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," said Tracy.

The bill was introduced in February 2021, but stalled in the legislature until early 2022.