ATLANTA (AP) — It’s a widely publicized goal of anti-tax crusaders — eliminating all property taxes on homeowners.
Rising property values are causing tax bills to rise in many states, but eliminating all homeowner taxes would cost billions or even tens of billions of dollars in most states. It’s unclear whether lawmakers can accomplish that without hurting schools and local governments that rely on tax dollars to provide services.
North Dakota officials say they are using state oil funds. On Wednesday, Republicans in the Georgia House of Representatives unveiled a complex plan to phase out property taxes on homeowners by 2032. In Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that’s his goal, lawmakers are now considering phasing out non-school property taxes on homeowners over 10 years. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants to eliminate property taxes on schools.
Republicans agree with those who say taxes, especially when tax collectors can seize homes for nonpayment, mean no one actually owns property.
“No one should have to face losing their home because they can’t pay rent to the government,” Georgia Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington said Wednesday.
An election-year tax rebellion
These bold election-year efforts could join ballot initiatives in Oklahoma and Ohio to eliminate all property taxes. Such an initiative was defeated in North Dakota in 2024 and failed to make it to the ballot in Nebraska that year, although organizers there are trying again. Another initiative in Michigan also may not get a vote.
“We’re in this era of property tax revolts, and it’s not unique or new. We’ve seen these revolts in the past,” said Manish Bhatt, vice president of state tax policy at the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., a group generally skeptical of new taxes.
Previous backlash led to laws such as California’s Proposition 13, a 1978 initiative that limited property tax rates and how much local governments could increase property valuations for tax purposes.
The efforts target voters like Tim Hodnett, a 65-year-old retiree in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville. Between 2018 and 2024, Hodnett’s annual property tax bill increased from $2,000 to $3,000. He thought the numbers were obvious because he paid off his mortgage several years ago and paid the taxes in a lump sum rather than monthly payments.
Hodnett said he is disabled and lives on $30,000 a year. He’s about to get a big property tax break because seniors in Gwinnett County are exempt from paying school property taxes, which account for about two-thirds of his bill. But he also wasn’t willing to pay the other $1,000.
“It would be great if we could eliminate property taxes,” Honnett said.
Will there be replacement income?
The question is whether local governments and K-12 schools should cut spending, or whether they should be allowed to make up revenue from other sources.
“I think in most states and localities across the country, completely eliminating property taxes on homeowners would be really difficult and undesirable in most places,” said Adam Langley of the Lincoln Land Policy Institute, a Massachusetts nonprofit that studies land use and taxes.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican, has been touring the state arguing that local governments are overspending trying to show they don’t need to collect $19 billion in property taxes from homeowners, meaning a home is their primary residence. Local governments have disputed the figures.
By contrast, North Dakota is using revenue from the state’s $13.4 billion oil tax savings account to gradually eliminate property taxes on homeowners. Last year, North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature expanded the principal residence tax credit from $500 to $1,600 per year. Officials said in December that the tax credit eliminated property taxes on 50,000 households last year and reduced bills for nearly 100,000 households. That cost $400 million in state subsidies in the 2025 and 2026 tax years.
“It works, and we know we can build on it to provide additional relief and bring property taxes to zero for the vast majority of North Dakota homeowners,” said Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong.
The situation is more unclear in Texas, which has been using state surplus funds to fund property tax relief, while Georgia’s proposal calls for shifting tax revenue.
Shift from property tax to sales tax
Burns wants Georgia to eliminate $5.2 billion in property taxes on homeowners, more than a quarter of the $19.9 billion in property taxes collected in 2024, and require cities, counties and school districts to rely on existing or new sales taxes.
Burns’ plan would require not only the approval of the Republican-led Senate but also Democratic support to meet the two-thirds hurdle for a state constitutional amendment before being approved by voters in November.
While most property taxes go to schools, in some communities the majority of sales taxes do not. It’s unclear whether local sales taxes will be reclassified. In addition, the combined sales tax rate for local governments and schools is still limited to 5%, which is higher than the state government’s 4% rate. Some schools and governments may not be able to raise sales taxes to make up for lost revenue.
Georgia will increase its current tax exemption of $5,000 of a home’s value to $150,000 in 2031 and then repeal most homeowner property taxes in 2032. The plan would limit annual property tax revenue growth to 3% for other types of property.
Local governments can send homeowners an annual bill for specific services, such as garbage collection, street lighting, stormwater control and fire protection, but lawmakers don’t call it a tax. Voters can also approve assessments of government or school improvements. The authors said they have not yet decided whether property owners will lose their homes due to unpaid assessments.
Burns also wants to spend about $1 billion in 2026 to cut property taxes, but it’s unclear whether Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will agree. A spokesman declined to comment.
Georgia has previously tried to limit how much home values can rise for tax purposes, a common practice across the country. But most school districts and many other local governments have opted out. Georgia senators are still pursuing that approach, and a Senate committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on enforcing the restriction.
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Associated Press writer Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed.