Property tax revolt a ‘mixed bag’ beyond Florida amendment win

A nationwide revolt against property taxes ended in mixed results at the ballot box on Tuesday.Florida voters notably approved a ballot measure to curb property taxes. But other states, such as Wyoming, rejected similar measures.Property taxes became a topic of note in the midterm elections in large part because homeowners have seen the value of their homes explode in recent years, driving up taxes. Meanwhile, homeownership has slipped out of reach for many young voters. “The results, obviously, I would call it a mixed bag,” Nicole Fox, a state tax policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday morning after the election.FLORIDA VOTERS GIVE BIGGEST WIN YET TO PROPERTY TAX REVOLT WITH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTVoters in Florida, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Wyoming, and other states all weighed in on property-tax-related issues this week.Proponents argue that relief is needed for homeowners who have seen their taxes rise sharply in recent years, while critics contend that the reduced revenue will have to be shouldered by taxpayers in other ways or that crucial spending would have to be cut.The winners The biggest winner of the ballot measures was Amendment 3 in Florida. The measure received 62% support and needed 60% to pass into law. It will significantly increase the state’s homestead exemption, from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028.Florida’s was the most dramatic of the ballot initiatives related to property taxes this election cycle, especially because Florida already has the “Save Our Homes” amendment to its state Constitution, which makes it so that the assessed value of someone’s homestead property can increase by no more than 3% above the previous year’s assessed value.A major supporter of the amendment was Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who celebrated the win. He even tied it to Republicans’ overall performance in the Sunshine State.“The existence of Amendment 3 on the ballot is one of the reasons Florida averted the fate of other red states,” DeSantis said on X. “It drew more voters to the polls.”And in North Carolina, voters approved — with just over 60% of the vote — a measure that would amend the North Carolina Constitution to require the state legislature to pass laws limiting how much local governments can increase property taxes.“North Carolina has been having some pretty significant conversations around rising property taxes for the past couple of years,” Fox said. “It’s basically saying, legislature, do your job. We want something done.”The losers But other property tax-related measures failed on Tuesday.In Wyoming, voters rejected Initiative 1, which would have created a homeowner’s property tax exemption that would have exempted 50% of a primary residence’s assessed value.Fox said she was kind of surprised that the ballot measure in Wyoming failed, given the state legislature had previously passed a couple of other “fairly significant” exemptions.“Then at the same time, I think this go-around there was a lot of concern about how to deal with the fallout,” she added. “When you continue to erode the tax base, what’s going to happen? How do you pay for it?”One of the major obstacles to limiting property taxes is that doing so can result in spending cuts or the government making up for the lost revenue in other ways.Another loss was in Oklahoma, where voters rejected State Question 847, which would have slashed assessment caps from 3% to 1.75% for homesteads and 5% to 4% for all other properties. That measure failed with 54% voting “no.”“I would say you know with that too, voters probably just were not sure how the tax shift would get paid for, because … that’s one of the fallouts of assessment limits, is that it does just like a large homestead exemption, both of them end up shifting the tax burden,” Fox said.Generational battle The ballot measures that voters faced on Tuesday are another front in a generational battle over housing.DEMOCRATS PLAN TO USE MAJORITIES TO FORCE GOP TO TAKE TOUGH VOTES ON TRUMP TARIFFSWhile property tax breaks would provide relief to homeowners, they would raise home prices, pushing ownership further out of reach for would-be homebuyers, who have already seen the monthly payment for a typical home roughly double since the pandemic, thanks to higher mortgage rates coupled with higher prices.In a recent example of research on this topic, a study by economists at New York University and Baruch College, released in August, found that lower property taxes tend to discourage older homeowners from selling and limit access to housing for younger families. But higher property taxes can cause older homeowners to sell, thereby decreasing home prices for young prospective buyers.