HOUSE BILL No. 5713


     March 26, 1998, Introduced by Rep. Profit and referred to the Committee on Tax Policy.


        A bill to amend 1976 PA 225, entitled

   "An act to provide for conditions of eligibility for such a
   deferment; to prescribe the powers and duties of the department
   of treasury, local assessing officers, and local collecting offi-
   cers; to provide for the advancement of moneys by the state to
   indemnify special assessment districts for losses from deferment
   of collections; to provide for the advancement of money by the
   state to an owner for the repayment of loans used by the owner to
   pay special assessments; to provide for the collection of
   deferred special assessments and interest thereon, and the dispo-
   sition of these collections; to make an appropriation; and to
   prescribe penalties,"

   by amending section 3 (MCL 211.763), as amended by 1980 PA 403.

               THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 1         Sec. 3.  (1) An owner of a homestead who is 65 years of age

 2    or older or who is totally and permanently disabled, a citizen of

 3    the United States, a resident of this state for 5 or more years,

 4    and the sole owner of the homestead for 5 or more years is

 5    eligible for the deferment of special assessments on that

 6    homestead  pursuant to  UNDER this act.  The owner and the


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 1    owner's spouse shall not have received during the last calendar

 2    year household income as defined in section 508 of  Act No.  281

 3     of the Public Acts of 1967, as amended, being section 206.508 of

 4     the Michigan Compiled Laws  THE INCOME TAX ACT OF 1967, 1967 PA

 5    281, MCL 206.508, in excess of $8,000.00; this amount shall be

 6    increased to $10,000.00 for the determination of eligibility for

 7    a deferment after December 31, 1982.  The gross amount of the

 8     special assessment, exclusive of interest, shall not be less than

 9     $300.00. 

10         (2) The maximum dollar amount of household income required

11    by subsection (1) to be eligible for the deferment of special

12    assessments under this act shall be adjusted each year beginning

13    on January 1, 1984, pursuant to the annual average percentage

14    increase or decrease in the Detroit consumer price  index--all 

15    INDEX FOR ALL items as defined and reported by the United States

16    department of labor, bureau of labor statistics.  The adjustment

17    shall be made by multiplying the annual average percentage

18    increase or decrease in the Detroit consumer price index for the

19    prior calendar year by the current maximum dollar amount of the

20    household income requirement as adjusted by this subsection.  The

21    resultant product shall be added to the maximum dollar amount of

22    the household income requirement as adjusted by this subsection

23    and then rounded off to the nearest whole number, which shall be

24    the new household income requirement for the current year.

25         (3) After January 1, 1975, a person 65 years of age or older

26    who otherwise qualifies under this section for deferral of

27    special assessments who fails to pay a prior delinquent special



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 1    assessment and thereby lost the property to the local unit of

 2    government who purchased the property through tax sale may reac-

 3    quire the property from the local unit of government through a

 4    land contract.  The land contract for a parcel of property reac-

 5    quired under  the circumstances set forth in  this subsection

 6    shall be treated as a special assessment for purposes of this

 7    act.

 8         (4) The owner of a homestead who is 65 years of age or older

 9    or is totally and permanently disabled, a citizen of the United

10    States, a resident of this state for 5 or more years, and the

11    sole owner of the homestead for 5 or more years, in the year the

12    special assessment was levied, and who has borrowed money from a

13    lending institution to pay a special assessment before the effec-

14    tive date of this subsection, shall be eligible to receive money

15    from the special revolving fund created in section 10, to be used

16    for the purpose of repaying the lending institution the principal

17    amount used by the person to pay the special assessment.  The

18    department shall cause a lien on the homestead in favor of the

19    state to be recorded with the appropriate register of deeds,

20    indicating the amount of the money paid and identifying the

21    homestead.  Money paid from the fund under this subsection shall

22    be treated as if the money had been paid as deferred special

23    assessment.











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