The Wall Street Journal reports several traditional “red” states, responding to constituents’ outcries over seemingly out-of-control property taxes, will offer measures at the ballot boxes in November.
Average annual property taxes for single-family homes rose about 34% around the U.S. between 2016 and 2025, writes the Journal, reaching more than $4,400, according to Attom, a property data company.
John Diamond, Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy at Rice University, says the transparency of property tax payments is behind the push for reform:
“Property taxes are very visible, and that makes them a target. A lot of people have to write that check every year in order to pay their taxes or when they go in to fill out their mortgage documents. Unlike sales tax, where you buy stuff and you don’t really know how much you’ve paid.”
Efforts to reduce property taxes in other states
Florida’s constitutional Amendment 3 has local governments bracing for budget cuts if it passes in November, albeit with a 60% threshold required for approval. It proposes to:
- increase the homestead tax exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with the amount indexed to inflation starting in 2029;
- provide that new residents receive a smaller exemption until they’ve lived in the state for five years;
- decrease the cap on how much the assessed value of non-homestead properties, such as rentals and commercial buildings, can increase each year from 10% to 5%, except for school district taxes;
- limit how counties and municipalities can spend property tax revenue on public safety, education, infrastructure, natural resource projects and flood control, local bonds, employee retirement benefits, and government operations; and other changes.
Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, who signed a $10 billion property-tax-relief package last year, is also looking to restrict the growth in local government spending. Abbott proposes a law that would limit annual growth in local spending to no more than 3.5%. The governor puts it bluntly:
“Stop the spending that leads to property tax increases to begin with.”
Voters in Oklahoma will decide a measure that sets a new 1.75% limit on the growth of annual taxable assessed property values.
In North Carolina, Tar Heel voters will consider on a proposed constitutional amendment to require state lawmakers to limit property tax growth.
Like Texas, Wyoming has already taken steps to curb tax increases on property. Last year, it enacted a 25% exemption on the first $1 million of the fair-market value of a primary home.
Kansas has no ballot measure for voters to decide this year, having failed the last two years to enact a constitutional amendment on the issue, with nearly all Democratic legislators and about a quarter of Republicans routinely voting against reforms out of concern for local government. Tax reform remains at the top of the list in voters’ minds as they head to the polls in November to elect a new governor and members of the House of Representatives.
The article cites data from Attom, saying Kansas had the 11th-highest effective property tax rate on residential property in the U.S. in 2025 at 1.2%, but that understates the issue, since Kansas’s current effective tax rate is 1.42%. The 2025 Statistical Report of Property Assessment and Taxation published by the Kansas Department of Revenue shows $3.85 billion in residential property taxes charged against $270.8 billion in appraised value.
The rural ETR is much worse, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, at 2.042%. That is the 5th-highest rate in the nation.
