The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has advised us that CalFIRE is preparing the second round of billing for the State Responsibility Area Fee (the Fire Tax). Even though the “fee” is being challenged by a lawsuit, CalFIRE will continue to bill every year until the class action lawsuit is resolved. We can expect the lawsuit to take several years to wind its way through the courts.
You do not need to protest the fee again if you have already done so. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association provides the following advice:
If you already filed the Petition for Redetermination according to the instructions on FireTaxProtest.org, and you received a denial that was not due to your Petition being late or incomplete, then you do NOT need to protest again unless you face one of three special circumstances, which are as follows:
- Your parcel is no longer located in the State Responsibility Area
- Your parcel has fewer habitable structures than the number billed, or
- Your bill omitted the $35 credit for a parcel located within the jurisdiction of a local fire protection agency.
If you have not already filed the protest paperwork on FireTaxProtest.org, you should protest now.
In the meantime, there are several bills working their way through the California legislature seeking to repeal or amend the SRA fee to make it more palatable. See AB-23, AB-124, AB-929, SB-17, SB-125 and SB-147.
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