Anyone old enough to have lived through the mayhem and economic decline of the 1970s probably will recall the tax cut heard round the world. That was the famous California ballot initiative Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes by more than 25% and then screwed a tight cap on future rate increases.
This was the tax cut that saved California, helping ignite the go-go days of Silicon Valley and build what are now trillion-dollar companies. This was also the dawn of the Reagan era of lower tax rates, the conquering of runaway inflation, and skepticism of big government at the state and local levels.
Once Prop 13 passed in California, a dozen more states slashed out-of-control property tax levies that were driving older Americans out of their homes. Selling the house to pay the taxes was a routine occurrence.
Now, even CNN reports another “property tax revolt is spreading.” Why? Because nationwide, property tax collections went up nearly 7% last year, easily outstripping inflation. Over the past five years, property taxes have been on average up 27%. Not only are soaring property values squeezing many people out of the housing market once again, but the accompanying tax increases are also squeezing many families and retirees.
One of the major voices driving this upheaval is Arthur Laffer – the same economist who played a big part in the Prop 13 tax revolt. “Almost everyone in both parties was against us back then,” Laffer recalls of Prop 13. “No one saw the tidal wave coming. But we won with more than 60% of the vote.” The tax cut “really came just in time to save California.”
Now, Laffer is working in nearly a dozen states to cap property tax tyranny.
He’s already succeeding. Last year, voters in nine states approved referendums to cap or curb rising assessments, from tying bills to inflation in Georgia and New Mexico to expanding tax exemptions in Colorado. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is exploring a ballot measure to curb property taxes. It would be accompanied by state audits into how spendthrift local governments overcharge for roads, school construction, and parks. Other measures may appear next year on the ballot in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, North Dakota, and Ohio. The Ohio measure would eliminate property taxes altogether.
The states with the highest property taxes are New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, and New York. New Hampshire has high property taxes, but that’s in part because the state has no income tax. What are New Jersey’s and New York’s excuses?
Anger over property taxes is especially strong in blue states, and one reason those taxes stay high is that these are all states that deny citizens the right to put tax limits on the ballot. Citizen initiative and referendum rights should be expanded to all states.
The special interests in state capitals fight ferociously against property tax relief. Teachers’ unions say the cuts will drain schools of money. Others warn of potholes in the roads, library closures, and less fire and police protection. These are the same stale and discredited arguments that were made against Prop 13, and real-world events proved these blowhard predictions false.
Over the past decade, nearly 5 million Americans have moved from high-tax blue states to low-tax red states. If the blue states don’t start reducing their tax burdens, that outflow could turn into a stampede.
Stephen Moore is a former Trump senior economic adviser and the cofounder of Unleash Prosperity, which advocates for education freedom for all children.
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We have raised property taxes in support of schools and in the past 65 years what have we accomplished. Johnny and Jane still can’t read. It is not a money problem, it is, do we have qualified teachers. Teach, not indoctrinate students. Maybe produce better teachers is the answer. And vet them as soon as they start teaching outside the curriculum, they should be banned from teaching forever. Teaching means educating them not spew their personal opinions. 2+2 is four and not 5. That is what is happening now in schools. And throwing more money at it is not the answer.
Founding Fathers warned us over and over that the greatest threat to liberty is government.
I am all in will do what ever I can to help.They rais my property taxes every year more the cost of living Inget from S.S.Everyone has to get together and STOP the madness.Vote them out!!!
The most important part of this article is the proliferation of spendthrift public officials who either reward their friends (donors) or are too lazy to get bids for building schools, roads, or other infrastructure. Look at “Too Late” Powell, who has spent more than $2 billion to remodel the Fed headquarters. President Trump knows what construction costs should be and has built better buildings for a fraction of that $2 billion. Time the taxpayers become educated on the effect of voting for politicians for extraneous qualifications like race, gender, political party. Their qualifications as stewards of our money are far more important.
Property taxes are legalized theft. The 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath bungalow I owned in Park Ridge, NJ in 1976 now pays more than $15,000 per year in real estate taxes. $1,250/month. The Town may as well have the keys to the house.
Desantis is trying to abolish Florida property taxes. I hope he is successful. Ours is high almost 3000 a year
keep them coming. taxpayers money has been stolen for non-citizens since the 1950s that i know of.
You forgot to mention Washington State. The dumbocraps there taxed me out of my home. I had to sell. I now live in South Carolina. I am 81.
My property taxes have been going up every year here in Maricopa county, AZ. I am retired now and live on Soc Sec. I am hard pressed with the cost of everything going up. Lower or no property tax would be a big help. We also need a bigger COLA raise and lower Medicare cost.
A vote for a Democrat (or a RINO) is a vote FOR MEGA TAXES AND MEGA TAX INCREASES.
Remember, there has NEVER been a tax or a tax increase that a Democrat hasn’t absolutely LOVED. In fact, either one, a new (UNNECESSARY) huge tax or a MEGA tax increase, makes Democrats rub their hands together, puts a HUGE SMILE on their face, and makes their mouth water. And if the tax is big enough (like they ALWAYS are in Blue States and cities), it has been known to even make them climax with anticipation of what they can personally spend it on (extravagant trips, bubble baths, ‘massages’, call girls or guys, drugs, booze, parties, etc.).
Our rights do not come from the Constitution or Bill of Rights. Instead, our rights are “natural” (inalienable) rights given us at birth by our Creator God. So the Bill of Rights is a statement to the federal government that they have no authority in the matters listed.
When I retired last year, I had NO choice but to sell my home on Long Island in New York. Once I went on SS the property taxes would have been OVER half my income. It was absolutely unsustainable. We did not want to leave our friends and family, but there was no way we could afford to stay.
Amount of Government is one of the PROBLEMS in that LOCAL and state EMPLOYEES are paid way too much….as there are organizations that set up payment schdules showing what a local/state employee should be paid by catagories….police, fire and EVERY other position..in adition you have the overpaid mayors, commissioners,managers, lawyers , etc for EACH city in addition to your COUNTY government structure then State Structure.
I know that the state of Ohio is raising property tax starting Jan 2026. County tax personnel have given heads up that it will be substantial.
Those transplants from blue states to red states are going to ruin the red states now. Just look at Colorado if you need an example.
Property tax is just wrong. Government can justify charging for services, but property tax becomes a threat to home ownership.
The LAST thing we need is more corrupted, dumba$$, union spoon-fed can’t think straight “teachers” in our schoolrooms, keeping todays students heads filled with trash! Not ALL teachers fall into this category, but faaaaaar too many do.
It sickens me, especially now that I’m retired and on a fixed income, that I can lose the home that I worked all my adult life for could be taken away from me for ‘taxes’. Its unfair that I’m taxed for my home every year.. Once a person retires, all property and school taxes should stop..
WA has the highest taxation increases in the US. Please come to WA…its a sea if blue????
And collectively the Blue States are STILL spending $Tens of Billion$ on Biden’s Illegals! That is “Aiding and Abetting” and Harboring! And they’ve been doing it for YEARS NOW! The Citizens of those states SHOULD be Outraged!
If we had clear transparency in our high tax states on how they are exactly spending our taxes, we would not be as reacting to the taxes but we are not given the whole picture. Take NYS who has been crying poverty because of the loss of federal funds despite having vast amounts of NYS tax revenue. They use the excuse of rendering those high taxes on their residents because they claim it can be taken as a federal deduction on federal taxes. We are already taxed 98% on our earned income and those who can afford to have deductions are already classifying most of their income into non taxed investments income leaving us fools who can’t to pay taxes. Now our state legislators—state senators and assembly representatives—are facing increasing demands from voters to get more transparent and to stop the rhetoric of claims of what the taxes are being spent on—in reality.
Property taxes aren’t taxes but annual theft from property owners because they already paid taxes on their property when they bought it, they will pay again if they sell it plus excise tax. Property taxes aren’t double, triple, or quadruple taxation, but multi taxation annually in perpetuity and something the founders would have explicitly forbidden if they could have ever conceived the notion that some perfidious and conniving politician could come up with such an atrocity. UK
I personally feel that property taxes and especially school taxes are the most unfair taxes of all. It penalizes the people who own property and the renters get off free even if they have children in school. The schools keep getting more elaborate all the time and now they build sport complexes which cost millions of dollars, and they don’t even supply the things the students need at school. I would much rather pay a sales tax which everyone who spends money would have to pay. I live in Pennsylvania which is a state not even listed in the article.
Georgia counties found a way to get the money they would have lost. Taxes went up in many counties. Mine rose 15%.
Property taxes should be unconstitutional. I’m all for a one-time sales tax when you buy the house, even if it’s 10%, you can put it into the loan and that’s that. But when the house is sold, the second or third time no sales tax. To think that you can pay off a house. But the government can still steal it from you because you owe them a few $1,000 in taxes on property you don’t actually own because you’re just renting it because they’re allegedly the owners because of property taxes?
it is still amazing to me that citizens of this country still do not know why and what for that taxes even started….so i will inform once more…..taxes were introduced and was passed by law makers ….1) to pay for operation of government and that was spelled out to be…a) salaries for the voted in positons of government and to pay salaries for admin that was needed for those positions to operate….b)….the buildings and furnishings for the people to work in…..c)….to pay the expenses to operate the buildings (untilities, maintenance)……. 2)..infrastructure….a) streets, highways, drainage, anything to do with infrastructure of running the country or state or local governments
3) defense of this country…..any and all measures of defending this country and its properties and people…..meaning all the military that was needed ……and the same went for the states and the local law enforcement which came later…..
That was it….none of the millions of other stuff that politicians who are YOUR EMPLOYEES have done to this nation by adding trillions of dollars of your money to get involved with any and every thing that YOUR EMPLOYEE can put into his or her pocket….and lately by the billions which are now called biden’s billions that went into his family’s pockets as the DOGE has already found more than a trillion in just la la land programs that YOUR EMPLOYEE pushed through and were all funded by YOU THE EMPLOYER that you hired and dont supervise….saying that you will not vote for that person in 4 years but what about the nation for that 4 years that you hired a person to govern this country or state or city and you did not supervise them….YOU AS AN EMPLOYER THINKS THAT ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS VOTE…….so now what does your EMPLOYEE DO?????? he does what he wants to do and when he wants to do it…..so quit the moaning and groaning about government because YOU HIRED THEM NOW SUPERVISE THEM JUST AS YOU WOULD IF THEY WERE IN YOUR HOUSE OR COMPANY DOING A JOB……or is that what you do? hire someone and pay them and then just walk off?????? If you are serious about finding what the problem is:
GO LOOK IN THE MIRROR!!!!!!!!!!
Look at taxes in Illinois then look at the debt,does anyone but me smell something that smells like a fish cleaning shack,as in fishy.There i a group of people trying to impeach pritzker,it probably won’t happen,but it should.
The first audit should be done on Alachua County, Town of Gainsville, Fl. There is defintely some finiggeling going on here, MY ELECTRIC WAS $384. IN AUGUST AND I HAVE RED’D MY SEPTEMBER BILL NOTIFICATION OF OVER $440. I hope not, but, I believe G R U is PADDING THE BILL. My propert taxes are over $3000. annually now, with another increase proposed by the City and County GOVERNMENT.
If you pay off your home, you own it, right? Not so fast. if the government seizes your home for non-payment of taxes, whose home is it in reality – the government’s. You are merely the uncompensated caretaker of government property of which you financed. No more, no less.
I well remember the Jarvis/Gann Amendment. I also remember that the then democrat Governor, Jerry Brown fought it tooth and nail. Then in astounding display of liberal hypocrisy during his reelection bid, he ran commercials that said “It took a strong Governor like Jerry Brown to get prop 13 passed”. And the clapping seals ate it up. It was an amazing display of liberal outright lies and how the clapping seals masses bought it without any fact checking.
People don’t understand how property taxes work (I didn’t); they are a ponzu scheme/SCAM and of course they are usually tied to things people get emotional about like our kids—“schools”—EVERYONE thinks these are helping people—our kids education is WORSE than ever and their is always a new push to INCREASE them because some CRIMINALS are profiting from them.
I hope this passes! we purchased a house recently and when we received the tax bill it was almost double from what we were told were the previous year’s tax. When we called the County office, we were told that the upgrades added to the increase tax. The upgrades were new roof, new bathroom fixtures and pavers in the driveway! The ‘flipper” who sold us the house, had told the county Assessor about the repairs and thereby raised the ‘tax value’! This is crazy, so if you want to keep your property taxes low, you cannot upgrade your home. The whole thing makes no sense.
I would be totally in favor of Iowa eliminating property taxes, and income taxes. I pray the President is able to get congress to eliminate taxes on retirement income.
I moved from Illinois to Montana ten years ago when I retired. Since then my three children and their families have all left Illinois. My two daughters, their spouses and seven grandchildren have moved to Montana. My son, his wife and two children have moved to Texas. We have all enjoyed our new homes. A grand total of 17 people have left Illinois. Illinois was one of three states that decreased in population at the last census-in spite of the country increasing in size.
Why? LESS TAXES! Sale taxes, real estate taxes, income taxes (in Texas)- all less than in Illinois. Especially when people retire it makes (money) sense to EXIT!!!!!
I hope so. I live in Texas. High school football is big in Texas. Property taxes are supposed to go to fund school districts and junior colleges. In the county I live in two high schools built new football stadiums that are on the lines of NFL stadiums. One was over $40 million and one was $60 million. I haven’t heard anything about other counties but, I do no doubt there are more. Schools have food courts that outdo any food court ever seen in malls. Retired people who do not have children in school should not have to risk losing their homes that they worked to pay for because they cannot afford to pay taxes that do not benefit them in any way. Not only should be reduced but, senior citizens should not pay property taxes at all.
I read all the responses and agree. We need to speak out and demand what is true. We need to vote with with sound reason in our voting. Holding our political and elected officials feet to the fire is very much needed both in local and national/ state elections.
They and we have a job to do and we must do it correctly. The time has passed to accept
being incompetent, slick, lazy and deceptive .God has given us a free will but wisdom is
essential in the overall plan.
I didn’t see Delaware mentioned.
Yep the roads and infrastructure aren’t getting fixed and our kids are getting dumber because teachers and unions don’t teach anymore so why pay more or any taxes?????
I don’t have a problem chipping in but this train went off the rails along time ago!!
There has to be a better way to raise money for schools and other services. Property taxes only mean that no one really owns their home, even if paid for. If we default on taxes, we’re out of a home.
CO is an interesting case. No matter how high taxes get, the Dem majority will continue to vote against its own interests.
If they are Dems moving from a blue state Don’t come to red states because you voted democratic you got what you deserve
We’re trying to find ways to get out of Michigan. Whitmer claimed she would fix the roads, bridges, etc. They, of course, all got worse. Now she’s spouting the same garbage. What nerve!
My son bought a condo in Orange County CA for 675K. After four or five years of values going down we now see it has a selling value of 775K and property taxes of almost 8K. Next year we expect even higher because they have so many things to get around the proposition 13 that saved us many years ago.
I enjoy watching Art on the Kudlow show. I would like to see and hour with Art & Larry only. They are the real economists.
My property taxes as a senior (82) is too high. When you live on SS and TRS, you barely have enough for house payment, light, gas, water, supplies, and food. I thought they were going to do something about this.
In Ohio, m property taxes went up 46% this year over 2024. My local county said it was because the estimated value of my home increased. Paying taxes on an estimated appreciation of an asset that I have no intention of selling. Just Crazy.
not having a state income tax is not an excuse to raise property taxes
The writer asks “What are New Jersey’s and New York’s excuses” (for having the highest property taxes). As the writer also notes Illinois is also one of them, but Illinois doesn’t stop there. They also are among those states with the highest state and local taxes, highest number of citizens leaving the state (but replacing them with illegal aliens), and highest fuel taxes. In fact, back in 2019 the current governor signed a bill which doubled the tax on gasoline and enacted an automatic fuel tax increase every July 1st without legislators having to vote for those increases. Forget New Jersey and New York. Illinois is the worst.
Why does not the politicians call Tariffs the proper name for what they are? They are tax increases!! Just check the HIGHER prices at the grocery stores!! My second point is about Social Security checks being lowered in future years. The politicians past the Social Security benefit, writing these funds WOULD NOT be utilized for any government expenditures! Yet politicians like to spend, spend, spend so they ignored the rules and depleted this fund. My view point is; politicians ignored the rules so it is THEIR salary that should be lowered not the citizens who placed money into the fund.
New York State is a disgrace, I’m ashamed to admit I live here. It’s high time to get rid of all the “corrupt” people who are in control of NY, vote for Elise Stefanik for Governor of New York, she’s our only hope.