Abolish ND Property Tax

– Arguments to Abolish on the left – to Leave As-Is on the right

North Dakota has a tremendous amount of sustainable revenue. The problem is that instead of providing REAL tax relief, our elected officials are spending like drunken sailors.
Provides $1 billion in TAX RELIEF to the citizens of North Dakota every year.
You will keep what you are now paying in property taxes, year after year, to spend as you see fit.
The state legislature replaces what we pay in property tax in 2025 to every city, county, school district, and township with no strings attached.
No services will be lost, because No revenue will be lost by cities or counties.
Cities & Counties will retain FULL control of their budgets without any state interference.
Cities and counties are kept whole through 2025 amounts with property tax replacement, and will be in charge of raising the revenue they need for their needs beyond the replacement amount.
Provides substantial TAX REFORM by prohibiting taxing property based on valuations.
No more trying to understand why your value went up.
No more trying to understand mil levies.
Future tax increases will be more transparent and have more public input.
The opposition’s concerns are addressed by implementing
language (new laws introduced in Jan 2025) required for the
measure, but they pretend this is not already the plan in place.
The Amount to be replaced is $1.16 Billion per year.
Every way you look at it, the state is overspending more than $2B / year.
The legislature will have a variety of options to choose from to fund the replacement of property tax. Below are $2B worth of suggestions from which they can choose the $1B needed to replace:

$165M cut non-federal budget by 2.5%

$540M limit one-time spending projects

$500M Annual excess revenue this Biennium

$81M unneeded property tax credits

$115M Operation Prairie Dog

$200M Legacy Fund earnings

$750M pork and corporate welfare

(click here for detailed explanation)

Leave ND Property Tax As-Is

The State does not levy property taxes.
(Except 1 mill for the Medical School)
ND pays $.9B to political subdivisions / year for property tax relief, 42% of total.
Commercial Property Payers 30%
Centrally Assessed 8%
Agriculture Property Payers 20%
Residential Property Payers 42%
In-state and out-of-state corporations could buy land, houses, and offices and pay no property taxes which currently go toward local services like fire, police, and roads.
This could significantly drive real estate pricing up, similar to Bozeman, MT, California and Hawaii, making it much more difficult for young people to own property.
Some entities pay “In Lieu” of property tax which pays $8.4M to political subs / year, i.e. Telecommunications Carriers, Rural Electric Coops, Coal Conversion Facilities, Tourism / Concession License Fees, and part of the Oil Production Tax.
ND owners pay .98% (less than 1%) of their assessed home value, ranking 23rd out of the 50 states.
ND has $2.3B of special funds, but they are not eligible to pay property taxes.
Proponents argue that $40M in current Homestead Tax Credits to low-income individuals won’t be needed, but that means $40M won’t go to political subs.
Proponents argue that $115M sent to townships, cities, and counties as “Prairie Dog Legislation” should end and be used to eliminate property tax. This would reduce income to non-oil political subs.
This loss of income to political subs would be replaced by other local fees.
Trying to replace this income by sales tax revenue would put smaller towns and rural areas at a disadvantage.
Proponents use one-time spending cuts as an example of funding property tax, but that is not sustainable year over year. Statements like “cutting corporate welfare” don’t show the unintended consequences.
The distribution of funds from the state to local political subs is a complex and tricky issue, ripe for abuse by political forces.
Keeping most property taxes local would keep accountability local, where it needs to be. If overspending by government is the problem, local accountability is the best solution.
Over 50% of the ND non-federal budget is from oil taxes. To fund the proposed measure, oil would have to average over $95/barrel at 1.3M barrels/day for over ten years.