MINOT – Measure 4, a proposed constitutional amendment that will be put on the November ballot as part of the petition process, would do two things.
First, it would prohibit Value Property tax. This means that the state of North Dakota and its various political subdivisions cannot tax your property value. It is important to remember that they can still tax your property in other ways. They could impose a tax on the square footage of your land and its structures, or tax your other property such as your boat, RV, or jet skis.
Many people, including many in the news media, describe Measure 4 as “abolishing the property tax,” but that is not true at all. It simply abolishes a very specific type of property tax.
But the measure has another purpose.
Section 1, subsection 3 states: “The State shall make annual payments to political subdivisions in lieu of revenues from real property taxes in an amount not less than the tax imposed by the political subdivisions on real property (excluding the tax imposed on real property to repay bonds) during the calendar year in which this amendment is adopted by the voters.”
In plain language: The amendment obliges the state to replace the revenue lost as a result of Measure 4, regardless of the level of revenue in that year.
This means that local tax authorities that have kept their property taxes low or do not collect property taxes at all will find themselves in a real bind.
Truly a farce.
Let’s take Mountrail County as an example. This county in western North Dakota has kept its property taxes very low. According to data I collected from online property tax records, a funeral home in Parshall with buildings and land is valued at $216,500. The business was assessed only $12.56 in county property taxes in 2023.
A home in Stanley, the county seat, valued at $265,800, only incurred county property taxes of $13.87.
By comparison, in Ward County, just east of Mountrail, a residential property valued at $237,000 in Minot, the county seat, had property taxes of $604.14.
The elected officials in control in Mountrail County have made decisions that allow them to keep property taxes low. Given the frustration many North Dakotans have with their property tax bill, this leadership deserves applause.
But if Measure 4 passes, they will be punished. The amendment will forever and ever codify the state’s obligation to fund Mountrail County at current levels of property tax revenue. Forever and ever.
Mountrail County’s neighboring counties, such as Ward County, would be entitled to a much higher reimbursement from the legislature. Incidentally, some counties, such as the park district in the city of Williston, do not collect any property taxes at all. They would be entitled to nothing.
Measure 4 treats all taxing authorities, from those that have kept property taxes low to those that have raised them, as if they were equal. And it would write that inequality into our state constitution.
It would be a terrible mistake if we allowed that to happen.
