According to an article in Stateline, property tax cut measures are on the ballot in at least eight states this November: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming. The move comes at a time when real estate market values, which have risen about 50 percent since August 2019, are beginning to impact property valuations, and homeowners are feeling the impact.

“No state better illustrates the spate of property tax cut votes this year than Colorado,” where “one ballot initiative would cap annual growth in state property tax revenues from residential and commercial properties at 4%” and another, not currently on the ballot but expected to make it, “would lower assessed property tax rates on residential and commercial properties,” reports Stateline’s Elaine S. Povich.

Property taxes have always been unpopular, despite being a fairly efficient form of taxation. Experts believe this is because they are often “paid in large amounts a few times a year — unlike income or sales taxes, which are paid in small installments — and thus tend to make a bigger impression on taxpayers,” Povich writes. Some groups in Colorado want an even higher cap than 4 percent, but others say the ballot proposal goes too far and would undermine funding for important state services like schools, roads, emergency services and other local government services.

Here is a quick summary of property tax ballot measures outside Colorado:

• Arizona: Property owners could “seek a refund of property taxes if the municipality does not enforce laws against illegal camping, loitering, begging, public urination, public consumption of alcohol and possession of illegal substances.
• Florida: The state would allow the adjustment of the property tax exemption to annual inflation for persons whose property is their primary residence
• Georgia: Municipalities could create a property tax exemption for homeowners who use a property as their primary residence.
• New Mexico: Veterans would receive more property tax relief.
• North Dakota: The property tax would be completely abolished, which experts say could cost the state $1.3 billion a year.
• Virginia: Veterans would receive more property tax relief.
• Wyoming: The state would create a new property class for taxation, separating owner-occupied housing from rental properties.