Property taxes have crept up – nationwide – to the point where a revolt is brewing. The GOP in 2026 may have an issue of major importance if the trend continues, since Democrats are behind the rise.
Nationally, the Biden era overspending and overtaxing are a lingering hangover, 2022 having the highest inflation and interest rates in decades, adverse impact on home building, lumber prices, debt costs, and consumer confidence. The lingering effect is substantial and compounded by other pressures.
With tens of millions of illegal aliens in Democrat or “sanctuary” states taking housing stock and benefits, private buyers are squeezed, raising values. Healthcare fraud, higher education costs, new crime, and infrastructure costs follow this trend, all part of the Biden property tax hangover.
More immediately, schools – the major driver for property taxes – have not recovered from COVID, weak trade training, dramatic setbacks in reading, math, and life skills, complicating local budgets.
Feeding elevated school costs and low outcomes is unprecedented (leftist) politicization of school systems in Democrat states, where DEI, CRT, less homework, more social media, grievance culture, confused sexual messaging, political activism, and emotional learning replaced hard learning.
All this creates rising home costs and taxes, further aggravated by demographics, more seniors remaining in their homes, while squeezed by their fixed incomes, plus more first-time buyers.
In 2024, the average property tax for homeowners grew by almost three percent, with three-quarters of all cities seeing increases and 157 of 217 cities seeing exceptionally high tax growth.
Some cities and states have been unusually impacted, especially those run by Democrats – where businesses have been driven out or under by state-level over taxation, over regulation, new drug crime, vandalism, theft, and unfunded mandates. Businesses often sell to out-of-state buyers, who then take top jobs and taxpayers. To that, add workers’ compensation, labor, and paid family leave.
Done wrong, these states fall into a recurring or “vicious” cycle of unchecked local costs, deflection of high state costs – from overspending and overregulating– back onto municipalities, which then struggle to pay for what the Democrat states mandate for schools, law enforcement, and locals.
Done right, these trends can be reversed. The critical pieces are a change of state and often local leadership, restored fiscal responsibility, accountable management, pro-business tax code, slashed regulations, ending state-level fraud, rolling back mandates on municipalities, ending politicization in schools and leftist lessons, reinstalling performance metrics, shrinking the administrator class, withholding state money if taxes cannot be reduced, and forcing accountability.
Beyond this, wider reforms are needed to get property taxes down, including reducing the state tax burden, optimally reducing or ending income taxes after cutting spending, encouraging businesses to return to the state to reinvest, train, hire, and thrive, while restoring public trust and safety.
Some states are considering dramatic, state-level initiatives to cut or eliminate property taxes; many are thinking about doing so for seniors and younger or first-time homebuyers, either outright or with multiplied homestead exemptions, all of which require aggressive new accountability.
At this point, property taxes may be repealed outright in Florida – a tourist state that might restore some revenue through an uptick in seasonal sales taxes, Idaho – where half the legislature is for cutting property taxes deeply, Illinois – which is considering a cut for seniors, Kansas – which may establish a citizens’ board to regulate property taxes, Montana – which may shift costs from seniors to second-home owners, utilities and select sectors, North Dakota – which effectively tripled the homestead exemption, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and other states on similar tracks.
In some states, like Maine, if Republicans retake the Governorship, House, and Senate, major reforms are possible. And on a personal note, as a candidate for governor, the immediate acts would be a sequenced elimination of the income tax, deep cuts of mandates driving property taxes, reform of the school system, new tax exemptions for seniors, and first-time homebuyers.
One way or the other, 2026 may see a stunning rise in focus on property taxes, as the Biden overspending, overtaxing, and inflation hangover combines with Democrat mismanagement, an end of leftist politics in schools, and demographic issues to focus attention on a possible revolt.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
Property taxes are the most unfair tax around! Property owners have to pay for schools even if they don’t have kids. It might be more acceptable if the children in the U.S. were actually being educated instead of indoctrinated.
Seniors are losing their homes when they should be stable and secure.
When can we move to Tariff revenue Economy vs Income Tax economy?
There will be a tax revolt in most of the country. You can count of Californians and New Yorkers to whine about their taxes but vote for those who would not only continue them but increase them. Most of those who would vote for more are already paying little or none.
What makes me upset is that the seniors are not getting a break in the property taxes. We are supposed to, but don’t. I had to get a credit card to pay mine last year.
IF YOU OWN A HOME OR BUSINESS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T PAY YOUR PROPERTY TAX? THE SHERIFF WILL COME BUY AND THROW YOU OUT OF YOUR HOME/BUSINESS THEN THE STATE PUTS “YOUR” PROPERTY UP FOR SALE – CHEAP. THE OTTOM LINE, IF YOU THINK FOR A MINUTE, NO ONE OWNS ANY PROPERTY, THE GOVERNMENT OWNS EVERYTHING – IS THIS AMERICA OR A COMMUNIST COUNTRY?
PROPERTY TAXESARE OUT OF CONTROL. I THINK SCHOOLS GET TOO MUCH OF OUR MONEY AND IN MOST PLACED GRADUATE A SUB STANDARD STUDENT, AND WE ARE PAYING FOR LINGUISTS TO TEACH ALL THE ILLEGAL KIDS WHO DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH AND WE ALSO PAY FOR LAYERS OF UNNEEDED ADMINISTRATION.
IF YOUR MORTGAGE IS PAID HOW MUCH DOES IT COST YOU TO RENT YOUR HOUSE FROM THE GOVERNMENT?
Home prices are also significantly higher due to private companies, like Blackrock, buying up many homes and then renting them. This drives up the demand and the prices on the remaining few homes on the market.
It’s almost as if there were a plan in place to drive up the costs of everything and slowly get rid of the middle class.
Perhaps next lay out a possible structure where reducing taxes and show where the benefit to the economy will come since the tide rises all boats.
The 10th paragraph sums it all up, bottom has fallen out, pile of mess.
Property tax increases in Washington State require approval by the voters. The problem is that the democrat citizens keep voting for more takes. It is unbelievable to me, but I watch it happen year after year.
Why does not the author call it what it is …”Obama’s third term?”
Property taxes violate our founding principles! First it eleminates the foundation of private property, as the perpetual tax results in the property being leased from the govrnment. In addition it is a tax on what has already been taxed, adding insult yo injury it is repeatedly done such that many lose property to the government that sells it out from under them for the tax debt portion.It is disturbing that this is not even part of this article, and how this is ignored in general. The government needs to be denied this anti-Amerixan tax scheme, easily manipulated to increase tax revenue without any honest representation in what should be viewed as fraud.
Property Taxes are simply legalized theft!
One other issue: We all have to conform to certain rules about posting comments on this website, otherwise AMAC will not allow our comments to be posted. Why in the world does AMAC permit these idiots that self-promote their money making schemes to add their comments? These money making schemes don’t pertain to the subject matter.
Pleeeeze is there another way to offer games, etc besides it popping up on EVERY article I’d like to read! I am not interested and it’s such a nuisance!
The last paragraph says it all. I wish I knew the answers, could twitch my nose and make everything better. But I cannot. Still….
FJB.