Voters in North Dakota have a chance to put an end to property taxes.
A ballot measure in North Dakota will give voters a choice to end property taxes in the Peace Garden State.
Steve Moen, one of the many voices calling for property taxes to be abolished, shared, “The way our taxes are going, if this doesn’t pass, there’s going to be a lot of elderly citizens losing their homes.”
Rick Becker, the chair of the organization, that helped put the measure on North Dakota’s state ballot, shared, “property taxes are the most egregious and least moral of all the taxes.”
North Dakota voters could end property taxes — and intensify a tax revolt https://t.co/jn1TsNlkmg
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) October 21, 2024
Per North Dakota Monitor:
Supporters and opponents of a measure to abolish assessment-based property taxes in North Dakota are at loggerheads over how the proposal would affect the state’s retired population.
The ballot measure, which will go before North Dakota voters on Nov. 5, would fundamentally overhaul the state’s property tax system, which funds schools, emergency services, parks and other essential government functions.
If the proposal is approved by voters, the state would have to reimburse local governments every year by an amount no less than the property taxes those entities levy for the 2024 tax year.
Steve Moen, a retiree and Grand Forks resident, has been involved in the push to repeal assessment-based property taxes in North Dakota for about a decade. He was on the sponsoring committee that helped put the measure on the ballot.
“The way our taxes are going, if this doesn’t pass, there’s going to be a lot of elderly citizens losing their homes,” Moen said, referring to both tax and cost-of-living increases.
The Social Security Administration recently announced a 2.5% cost of living increase for 2025. The estimated average Social Security retirement benefit will increase by about $50 a month.
Moen said his property taxes have nearly doubled in the past dozen years. Back in 2012, he paid a little over $2,000 in property taxes, he said. By comparison, his property tax bill for 2023 was more than $3,500.
🔥My take on the efforts to eliminate property taxes in North Dakota at @MarketWatch!
“Vance Ginn, an economist in Texas, said state and local governments should find a way to move past property taxes, which he views as an “immoral form of taxation.”
Spending guardrails and… pic.twitter.com/eB9faCxjAD
— Vance Ginn (@VanceGinn) October 21, 2024
Here’s what Market Watch reported:
Many homeowners across the U.S. aren’t happy with property-tax bills that have climbed alongside a pricier real-estate market. But voters in North Dakota have a chance to act on that discontent next month by repealing property taxes and barring counties, towns and other local governments from levying them.
If the ballot measure passes, North Dakota would become the first U.S. state to end property taxes. Its passage could also add muscle to the push to eliminate the tax elsewhere, property-tax skeptics say. The idea has been floated in states like Texas, Nebraska and Michigan, while lawmakers in the Great Plains and Mountain West states say big reforms are needed quickly.
Property taxes are the “most egregious and least moral of all the taxes,” according to Rick Becker, chair of the organization that put Measure 4 on the North Dakota state ballot. The ballot measure would repeal residential, commercial and agricultural property taxes, he noted.
These taxes uses opaque formulas to make homeowners keep paying for property they already own, he said. They’re also based on the “unrealized” paper value of a home, he added.
For Becker, a “yes” vote is a win inside the state and beyond. “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 said. “The sky didn’t fall, and maybe we should give it a try.”
