IPTI | Property Tax in the News – August 2025

IPTI’s usual monthly newsletter – the “President’s Message” – contains, inter alia, some summarised news articles from around the world. This IPTI publication – “Property Tax in the News” – contains some of the more interesting news articles concerning property taxes in North America and Europe which is where many of our members have a particular interest. Links to these and more, similarly summarised, articles – from North America, Europe and around the globe – can be found in “IPTI Xtracts” on our website: www.ipti.org. Please note that these are news articles; they do not necessarily reflect IPTI’s views.

 

USA

USA: Map Shows States Where Property Tax Could Be Repealed

Property tax repeals or reforms are being considered in multiple states across the country, following the consistent rise of property taxes over the past five years. Bills have risen in nearly every U.S. metropolitan area, according to a recent report from real estate brokerage Redfin. In this period, property taxes increased by almost 30 percent, reaching a monthly median of $250. Susan Wachter, Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate and Finance, and co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, told Newsweek via email: “The affordability benefits to homeowners of reducing property tax rates as property tax values increase are great.”

“This can be done while keeping tax revenues needed for local expenses constant,” Wachter said, adding, “Cutting more than this imposes real costs either in lost community services or in the need to raise other taxes.”

These are the states considering repeals or reforms to property taxes.

Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis has signaled his support for eliminating property taxes. Speaking on The Dana Show podcast earlier this year, he said, “The thing is, it’s possible in Florida … so why would we not take that opportunity to do that?”

DeSantis had first mentioned this in February in a post on X, where he wrote: “Property taxes are local, not state. So we’d need to do a constitutional amendment (requires 60 percent of voters to approve) to eliminate them (which I would support) or even to reform/lower them … We should put the boldest amendment on the ballot that has a chance of getting that 60 percent.” DeSantis is pursuing this constitutional amendment for 2026.

Idaho

In March of this year, the Idaho Senate voted unanimously to pass a bill which seeks to reduce property taxes. According to a press release from Republican Idaho governor Brad Little, the bill directs $100 million in relief to property taxpayers. Little said in the press release, “America wants what Idaho has: safe communities, strong schools, and a bustling economy that offers tremendous opportunities for our people to prosper. I am proud to join the dedicated leaders of the Idaho House and Senate for the signing of this important bill today.”

Illinois

In Illinois, legislators are considering a bill which would eliminate property taxes for homeowners who have lived in their houses for 30 years or more. The bill, titled Senate Bill 1862, proposes that the state’s property tax be amended so that homes owned and occupied as the primary residence of the taxpayer, for a minimum of 30 years, be given a homestead exemption. The bill was filed by Republican Senator Neil Anderson and cosponsored by Republican Senators Dave Syverson and Terri Bryant.

Kansas

In Kansas, a bill put forward by Republican Representative Blake Carpenter proposes a constitutional amendment which would include creating a citizens’ board to evaluate current tax exemptions. The bill would generate money through eliminating sales tax exemptions, and then this money would be used to cover the state’s education which is currently paid for by property taxes. Kansas residents would vote on this amendment in November of 2026.

Montana

In Montana, legislation passed in May will see property taxes cut for regular homeowners, with the burden being distributed to second home owners, refineries and utility giants. Two bills, House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542 will deliver property tax relief for Montana residents. The bills rebalance property taxes in the state, with taxes being lowered on homes that are occupied by owners, while vacation properties and high value assets will see taxes increased.

North Dakota

In May, North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong, a Republican signed a property tax relief and reform package for the state. According to a press release, the bill more than triples the state’s existing primary residence property tax credit. In addition to this, Armstrong is seeking to fully end property taxes, through oil-wealth backed funding. The plan would build upon a primary-residence tax credit, proposed to increase every two years, which would eventually rely on the oil tax fund earnings.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is also looking at eliminating property taxes through a constitutional amendment. Republican Representative Russ Diamond introduced the House Bill 900 which would abolish all property taxes as of July 2030.Diamond hopes that the bill will go to voters.

Tennessee

The Tennessee House of Representatives has passed a resolution which will let voters decide whether to pass a ban on state property tax. The resolution proposes amending the constitution for the state to prohibit the state levying or authorizing a property tax, and has been sponsored by Republican Representative Tandy Darby. Tennessee voters will decide on the issue in the November election.

California: LA County Breaks $2 Trillion in Property Valuation

Despite devastating wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and scorched wide swaths of Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang announced the 2025 assessment roll increased by $82 billion or 3.91% over last year, marking 15 years of continuous growth with an estimated net local Roll value of over $2 trillion. The 2025 assessment roll’s growth translates to $2.176 trillion in total net value that will put more than $20 billion in property tax dollars towards public services such as public education, first responders and healthcare workers, as well as other county, municipal and public education services.

The assessor establishes the assessed value of all taxable property in Los Angeles County each year as required by the State Constitution. Taxable property includes land and buildings as well as business property that includes furniture, machinery and equipment. Assessments are based on property values as of Jan. 1, 2025, and once determined are placed on an inventory list called the Assessment Roll. The assessment roll provides insight into the state of the real estate market as well as the local economy and works as a valuable tool for local governments as they prepare their annual budgets in anticipation of property tax revenues. This growth does not mean property owners will be subject to a corresponding increase on their annual property tax bills. Most property owners will see only a 2% adjustment prescribed by Proposition 13. The 2025 Assessment Roll consists of 2,398,007 taxable real property parcels, 160,367 business property assessments, 32,733 boats, and 3,037 aircraft.

Pennsylvania: Lawsuit calls on Pa. to change ‘grossly non-uniform’ property tax assessment system

A Pittsburgh-based economic justice advocacy group has sued the state of Pennsylvania in Commonwealth Court, demanding that it establish uniform standards for conducting property reassessments for all of its 67 counties.

“Extremely outdated property assessments have resulted in approximately 70% of the counties across Pennsylvania imposing unfair and regressive assessments,” said a statement from attorney Kevin Quisenberry of the Community Justice Project, which filed the suit. “Owners of lower-value properties are overtaxed relative to higher-value properties. This broken system violates the Pennsylvania Constitution.”

The suit names Gov. Josh Shapiro and state Attorney General Dave Sunday in their official capacities. Shapiro’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday: A spokesperson for Sunday said the office had not been served with a copy of the complaint. Currently, counties largely decide for themselves how often to reassess property values, with years or decades elapsing between reassessments. But the complaint, filed on behalf of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee, alleges that such an approach is unconstitutional because it allows counties “to decide individually, without any standards, how to assess real property for property taxation purposes.”

And that, the 12-page complaint alleges, “has resulted in a haphazard, grossly non-uniform, and arbitrary property assessment system.”

The problem is especially acute in areas that have deteriorated since the last assessment — particularly communities suffering from higher rates of poverty and unemployment. According to the suit, a member of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee lives in a Westmoreland County home assessed at twice the value it would fetch if put up for sale — meaning its owner carries twice the burden that is fair.

“Unemployed homeowners are desperate for relief from over-assessment,” said Barney Oursler, who leads the Mon Valley economic-justice group, which advocates for unemployed workers. Pennsylvania’s constitution requires that similarly situated taxpayers be taxed uniformly. But the suit notes that 50 counties are using property assessment data that is at least 15 years old, with several counties using values first calculated a half-century ago or more. Citing an earlier state Supreme Court precedent that involved valuations in Allegheny County, the suit asserts that such delays “result in assessment non-uniformity because ‘property values may change over time and at different rates.’”

Those disparities create a “deeply unequal, regressive property assessment system,” the suit says. And it contends that the application of the state’s assessment laws violates the Pennsylvania constitution by “failing to set standards guiding and restraining how counties should implement their property taxation responsibilities” — including how often to conduct assessments. As a remedy, it asks the court to declare the county-by-county approach unconstitutional and to direct counties “to assess properties … in accordance with their remaining authority” under state law. The suit echoes arguments that have been made for years by local officials — who in Allegheny County, at least, have been bedeviled by lawsuits filed over their own property valuations. County Executive Sara Innamorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey — who both previously served in the state legislature — pleaded last year for Harrisburg to level the playing field between counties.

“We are standing alone as the only state that doesn’t mandate it,” Innamorato told WESA in a joint interview with Gainey. Local officials are often wary of initiating regular reassessments on their own — especially when counties nearby may be using decades-old values that may seem like a better bargain. (“I haven’t met an elected official that comes out and [says] ‘I’m going to enjoy doing reassessments,” Gainey told WESA. “If that was the case, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”)

Historically, it has fallen to the courts to order such reassessments when values get far enough out of whack that a judge feels obliged to compel a revaluation after property owners to sue. Experts say the result is “the worst of both worlds” — hard-to-predict spikes in value as the system lurches toward reassessment, interspersed with periods where the newly established values slowly revert to their distorted levels. If the arguments in the suit are familiar, so are some of the names attached to it. The case was filed by the Community Justice Project, whose lawyers filed a key challenge to Allegheny County’s assessment practices in 2005. Initially brought forward in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, that suit resulted in then-Judge Stanton Wettick ordering a countywide reassessment after determining that the state’s assessment law, and the county’s application of it, were unconstitutional: The state Supreme Court in 2009 upheld Wettick’s order, but without tossing aside state law entirely. Writing for a court majority, then-Chief Justice Ronald Castille acknowledged that Allegheny County’s reliance on years-old valuations produced disparate values, and that “the disparity is most often to the disadvantage of owners of properties in lower-value neighborhoods.”

But he also wrote that the court shouldn’t toss out state laws unless they make it impossible for fair results to be obtained. “It appears there are circumstances where the base year provisions could be constitutionally applied,” Castille wrote — if, for example, a county conducted reassessments more regularly. The new lawsuit was filed in Commonwealth Court, a statewide judicial body that handles complaints against state and local government agencies. The complaint doesn’t seek specific policy changes like mandating a specific timetable for reassessments. But some state officials seem open to the possibility. State Sen. Wayne Fontana, an Allegheny County Democrat, has suggested setting a five-year reassessment timetable statewide, though he has yet to propose legislation to that effect.

Utah: Across Utah, ‘Truth in taxation’ hearings get underway over proposed property tax hikes

“Truth in taxation” hearings are legally required whenever a government body wants to raise property taxes. This year, 60 cities, school districts and special service districts are holding them. The amounts range based on average property values in an area. For example, the Cache County town of Wellsville has proposed a small $2.89 increase. On the other end, the southeastern Utah community of Wellington has proposed a stunning 225% increase (about $487). The Utah Taxpayers Association, a tax watchdog group that regularly tracks such hearings, says the reason communities often see huge increases is that government bodies won’t raise taxes because it’s politically unpopular. So they go years — and sometimes decades — without raising them and then they are forced to in order to pay for critical needs like water, roads, public safety and schools. The Utah Taxpayers Association has recommended government bodies raise taxes to keep up with inflation (but then they would have to hold such “truth in taxation” hearings more frequently).

“Truth-in-taxation meetings are a pivotal component of the taxation process in Utah,” Billy Hesterman, the group’s president, said in a statement. “The feedback garnered during these meetings plays a crucial role in maintaining the fairness of taxes and ensuring that budgets undergo rigorous scrutiny before final approval. We hope that all taxpayers attempt to attend these meetings.”

In particular, the group urges people to pay attention to special service areas like water districts, which operate independently of cities and towns. This year, the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District is proposing an $11.78 increase on the average home valued at $630,000. The agency, which supplies water to a large part of the Salt Lake Valley, last proposed an increase a few years ago.

“Everyone has felt the squeeze and we recognize that,” said Kelly Good, the water district’s conservation manager. “We’re trying to be as mindful as we can. In fact, when we first put our budget together, we ended up cutting out about $13 million worth of projects to minimize it as much as we could.”

Good said a lot of what they cover with property taxes isn’t visible from your water tap. It also creates infrastructure to deal with growth and ensure a needed supply of water. “The property tax is, again, for more of this future development, watershed protection, fire suppression, things that aren’t necessarily measured by water users that communities benefit from,” she said. But the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District is facing some organized opposition to its property tax increase proposal. The Utah Rivers Council has been rallying people to speak against it at the district’s August 11th meeting.

“Their claims of why they need this tax increase are total hogwash,” said the environmental group’s executive director, Zach Frankel. The Utah Rivers Council objects to the property tax increase on the larger issue of how much of Utahns’ property taxes cover water use.

“It incentivizes large, wealthy landowners to waste water. Both rich homeowners and exempt institutions,” Frankel said, referring to nonprofit institutions that don’t pay property taxes. “Schools, churches and universities are having cheaper water prices because of the property taxes. We’re in the middle of the biggest Great Salt Lake crisis we’ve ever seen. This water supplier is incentivizing institutions to waste water.”

The Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District countered that it has instituted tiered water rates and is aggressive about conservation. Frankel also said he opposed the tax increase because of what he said were large salaries the district pays to some employees (the district defended the salaries as being competitive).

 

EUROPE

Ireland: New chapter beckons for Cork commercial property rates

A significant and long-awaited transformation of commercial property rates is officially underway in Cork city and county, following the formal signing of a valuation order by Tailte Éireann. This landmark order marks the commencement of a comprehensive revaluation process for all commercial and industrial properties in Cork, aimed at modernising and ensuring greater equity and fairness in the local tax base. Cork city and county are the final two local authorities in Ireland to undergo a revaluation.

The process, undertaken by Tailte Éireann, will involve a detailed assessment of all commercial properties, from retail, offices, industrial, hotels, petrol stations, up to wind farms and airports, to determine their net annual value. These valuations, based on current rental values, form the fundamental basis upon which commercial rates are calculated. The primary driver behind this revaluation is to address inequities that have emerged from an outdated valuation system. Crucially, the exercise is not designed to increase the overall rates burden on ratepayers in Cork. Instead, it is a “revenue neutral” exercise, focused on ensuring the existing burden is fairly redistributed based on current market realities, creating a transparent, equitable, and uniform valuation list.

The process ahead: Key dates for businesses

The revaluation process will officially commence this week, when every commercial occupier will receive a request for information form, either as a Section 45 or 46 notice. These forms will demand crucial data, including lease details, rent paid, fit-out costs, turnover, and construction costs. Businesses are statutorily obliged to respond to these requests via Tailte Éireann’s online portal within the designated timeframe. Following the analysis of all returned information, Tailte Éireann is expected to issue proposed valuation certificates in early 2027, outlining the proposed new valuations for each property. This stage is the optimal time for businesses to challenge these proposed valuations. Final valuation certificates are due to be issued in September 2027, with a further opportunity for appeal, before the new valuations become effective for rates purposes from January 2028. Impact on businesses: Winners and losers

While the revaluation is designed to be ‘revenue neutral’ at a local authority level, it will undoubtedly lead to shifts in liabilities for individual businesses. Once the new valuations are in place, Cork city and county councils will adjust their annual rate on valuation — the multiplier applied to the valuation to determine the final rates bill. This adjustment will ensure the revenue collected aligns with their budgetary requirements, taking into account the new aggregate valuation base. This mechanism means while some property types — particularly those whose market rental values have increased — may face higher rates bills, others could see a decrease. Some may even remain unchanged, depending on how their new valuation compares to the average change across the city and county. As with all revaluation exercises, there will be winners and losers. Analysis from the 2019 revaluation project in Cavan, Fingal, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Tipperary, Wexford, and Wicklow, showed 66.74% of liabilities reduced, 30.14% increased, and 3.12% remained unchanged.

Next steps for ratepayers

Ratepayers across Cork city and county are strongly advised to react to the communications from Tailte Éireann issued in July. Engagement from this very first step is crucial. Accurately providing the requested information is vital to ensuring a fair and reasonable valuation, and consequently, a proportionate rates liability. This revaluation marks a pivotal step towards a more equitable and transparent system of rates valuation for Cork’s commercial sector, promising a fairer distribution of the local tax burden for years to come.

 

Compliments of the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI) – a member of the EACCNY