Voters in North Dakota will have the chance to get rid of the state’s property taxes in November and become the first state in the nation to repeal the tax, potentially paving the way for others to follow suit.
The ballot measure, called Measure 4, would not only repeal the state’s property tax, but also bar cities and localities from instituting property taxes of their own.
Rick Becker, the chair of an organization called End Unfair Property Tax, which got the measure placed on the North Dakota ballot, says that success in the Peace Garden state could encourage other states across the country to ditch their own property taxes.
“Once that happens, the light turns on for so many people. As soon as a state steps outside that box, the other states see how possible that is,” Becker contended. “The sky didn’t fall, and maybe we should give it a try.”
Although no states have repealed their property taxes, Texas, Nebraska, and Michigan have explored the idea, with measures in the latter two states being proposed, but failing to make the ballot.
While Becker calls property taxes “most egregious and least moral of all the taxes,” others are working to oppose the measure to repeal them in the state, calling the ballot initiative a “sledgehammer approach.”
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“I think we’re going to defeat Measure 4,” said Chad Oban, the chair of an organization called Keep It Local that opposes the ballot measure. “But I do think if it passes, there will be a lot of other states doing something similarly, or feeling like there’s a political appetite.”
Recent polling found that 28 percent of North Dakota voters plan to vote in favor of the measure while 40 percent are opposed to the measure, with another third of voters saying that they are undecided. Voters in the state shot down one 2012 attempt to repeal property taxes, however this year’s measure comes amid growing frustration with property taxes, both Becker and Obad acknowledged.
Municipalities across the United States garnered about $363 billion in property taxes from single family homes last year, data reveals, marking a nearly seven percent increase from the prior year. North Dakotans had an effective property tax rate of 0.99 percent of their home’s estimated market value, higher than the national average of 0.87 percent.
