Bill Description: House Bill 449 would impose financial penalties and criminal sanctions on individuals who improperly claim more than one homestead exemption.

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NOTE: House Bill 449 is similar to House Bill 401, introduced earlier this session, but this bill contains new provisions requiring homeowners who apply for a homestead exemption to provide additional personal information to the county assessor. It also requires county assessors to share this information with the state tax commission and secretary of state. 

Does it directly or indirectly create or increase penalties for victimless crimes or non-restorative penalties for nonviolent crimes? Conversely, does it eliminate or decrease penalties for victimless crimes or non-restorative penalties for non-violent crimes?

Idaho code allows homeowners to claim a property tax exemption for one homestead. House Bill 449 would amend Section 63-602G, Idaho Code, to assess a penalty on a taxpayer who improperly claims more than one homestead exemption. 

This penalty would be equal to the amount of the improperly received exemption, effectively doubling the amount owed by the taxpayer.

This bill provides for more than a financial penalty. Any subsequent improper homestead exemption filed within 7 years would be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of a fine up to $1,000 and up to six months of incarceration.

Neither the financial penalty nor the criminal prosecution requires the government to prove that the taxpayer claimed an improper exemption with knowledge and intent.

Even in cases where taxes are misfiled intentionally, incarcerating the offender would not be restorative for the very taxpayers who would have been the potential victims of the original offense had it gone undetected. In fact, incarcerating someone would impose a new cost on those who had complied with the law.

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

House Bill 449 would further amend Section 63-602G, Idaho Code, to require homeowners who apply for a homestead exemption to provide additional personal information to the county assessor. This information would include the homeowner's full name, date of birth, complete address, most recent previous complete address, and state-issued driver's license number or state-issued identification card number, if the homeowner has such a number.

House Bill 449 would amend Section 63-3077, Idaho Code, to require that the personal information collected by the county assessor be forwarded to the state tax commission and the Idaho secretary of state. The bill says the information "may be used by the Idaho secretary of state to assist in determining a person's residence for voting purposes … and for candidate qualifications." 

Of note, this information will be sent to the secretary of state automatically regardless of whether the homeowner registers to vote or files to run for office. 

There may be legitimate reasons for collecting and disseminating this information to those offices. But increased data collection and sharing by government entities always raises privacy concerns, especially when the information is being shared based on the possibility of its use rather than its necessity.

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