These 13 States Might Eliminate Property Taxes in 2026

The simmering frustration of 2024 and 2025 has boiled over into a full-scale property tax revolt in 2026, with no fewer than 13 states actively weighing proposals to eliminate property taxes in some form.

The backlash is striking, but not without precedent. The inflation shock of the 1970s helped fuel California’s Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 law that capped property tax rates and limited annual assessment increases for long-tenured homeowners.

What feels different now is the scale. Instead of one or even a few states becoming the national symbol of tax crisis, lawmakers across the country are floating versions of the same idea at once: Repeal the tax, phase it out, carve out homesteads, or zero out major portions of local property bills.

For local governments, the stakes are enormous. Property taxes are the backbone of local revenue, funding schools, roads, emergency response, and other essential services. Dismantling this system without a bulletproof transition risks a chaotic tug-of-war over state budget shifts and hidden costs for taxpayers.

What's more is that a total replacement of this scale has never been tried before.

Florida

The Sunshine State offers a rare trifecta of factors that is making property tax elimination there a very real possibility: a governor who enthusiastically supports elimination, a Legislature actively weighing multiple proposals for the November ballot, and homeowners buckling under the pressure of high property taxes.

For his part, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly framed eliminating the property tax as a long-overdue liberation from what he calls “the more oppressive and ineffective form of taxation,” arguing that property owners shouldn’t have to “pay rent to the government” for homes they already own.

He has also instructed lawmakers to give voters a clear choice in November with one clean ballot initiative that succinctly ends property tax pain.

Since late 2025, the state House has been weighing no less than seven proposals of varying potency. Currently, the furthest along, HJR 203, would eliminate property taxes for homestead properties as soon as Jan. 1, 2027, while also setting spending backdrops for first-responder budgets, which property taxes help pay for.

But economists warn that the implications would be massive. Property taxes currently provide more than one-third of Florida’s state and local revenue, meaning counties would likely face steep budget shortfalls almost overnight. To compensate, lawmakers could raise sales taxes or introduce consumption-based levies—moves that tend to hit lower-income residents hardest.

Still, if it makes it to the ballot and voters approve HJR 203 by the required 60% threshold in November, Florida would become the first state in U.S. history to attempt a complete phase-out of property taxes—a radical experiment that could reshape how every homeowner in the nation thinks about the cost of keeping a roof overhead.

Georgia

Just north of Florida, the Peach State is also weighing a plan to eliminate most homeowner property taxes by 2032.

Georgia's plan would happen in phases. First, a $1 billion state outlay would reduce current tax burdens, providing near immediate relief to homeowners. Meanwhile, the state would raise the exempt value for primary residences from $5,000 to $150,000 in 2031, before moving forward with the full elimination of most property taxes by the next year.

To fund local governments, homeowners would instead be billed directly for services like garbage pickup, stormwater control, or fire protection. Other government or school funding would need approval by voters.

Illinois

Illinois residents pay the second-highest property taxes in the nation, according to a recent analysis, and state Sen. Neil Anderson (R-Andalusia) wants to do something about it. 

Anderson introduced SB 1862 in October 2025, co-sponsored by state Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Cherry Valley), to create a homestead exemption. This exemption would eliminate property taxes for homeowners who've paid their share on their residences continuously for at least 30 years.

While longtime homeowners cheered the "30 years and you're done" proposal, some who have been in their home for a shorter period expressed anger.

This is just the beginning, Anderson vowed.

“If we can start somewhere and just get some kind of agreement that, at some point, whether it's 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years ... you've paid enough money, and you actually own your property and you don't have to pay anything anymore. That's the starting point I want to get to here,” he told The Center Square.

Indiana

The Hoosier State is currently debating one of the nation's most aggressive repeal efforts in HB 1288. But what sets Indiana’s approach apart is that it has something that most other plans don't: a clear replacement plan.

HB 1288 proposes a total phase-out of property tax payments by 2028, funded by a significant expansion of the state sales tax.

Under this plan, the state would stop assessing property values after 2026 and fill the resulting budget gap by taxing previously exempt services, such as legal fees and auto repairs. While the bill has strong backing from fiscal conservatives like Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Republican, it faces a battle in the House Ways and Means Committee.

Kansas

State Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Republican, has a plan to eliminate property taxes in Kansas in the form of House Concurrent Resolution 5014. 

Carpenter’s approach would eliminate certain sales tax exemptions, generating approximately $2 billion annually. That money would then flow into a newly established Freedom From Taxes Fund, where it would eventually generate enough interest to cover the state's education funding, which is currently supported by property taxes.

This strategy is inspired by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which leverages accumulated revenues for public benefit. Carpenter estimates that Kansas' fund could reach $13 billion to $15 billion within eight years, at which point the annual interest alone would replace roughly $900 million currently raised through property taxes. There’s even a promise that the fund could one day offset income taxes in the state.

But the bill has sat idle in the Committee on Taxation since it was first introduced, signaling that its passage into law is increasingly unlikely

Michigan

In early 2026, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall joined the chorus of state legislatures hoping to eliminate part of the property tax.

His sweeping plan would eliminate the state’s 6-mill education tax, a levy that generates roughly $4 billion per year in revenue, and the real estate transfer tax. The proposal targets the "pop-up" tax to encourage housing turnover, while also seeking to abolish personal property taxes on business equipment to spur local investment.

While Hall, a Republican, insists the plan will be revenue-neutral for schools and local governments, the mechanism for backfilling that $4 billion hole remains a central point of debate in Lansing.

Nebraska

The Cornhusker State is aiming for an epic 2026, with a proposal to Eliminate Income, Property, and Inheritance (EPIC) taxes with a single broad consumption tax that applies to services and most other purchases.

Known as the "EPIC Option," the proposed constitutional amendment offers clear, if blunt, language: “No governmental entity in the state of Nebraska shall collect property tax, income tax or inheritance tax beginning January 1, 2028.”

While the proposal does introduce a 7.5% consumption tax replacement for the lost funds, an analysis by the Tax Foundation found that the rate needed would likely be closer to 21.6%, raising questions about the plan's feasibility.

North Dakota

In January 2025, North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong used his first State of the State address to propose an ambitious plan that would eliminate property taxes for most homeowners within a decade. His proposal would expand the state’s primary residence tax credit from $500 to $1,550 in its first year, funding the program through investment earnings from the state’s $9 billion Legacy Fund.

As the fund grows, homeowners would receive larger credits each year until property taxes effectively disappear. The plan also includes a 3% annual cap on local property tax budgets—covering cities, counties, schools, and park districts—though local governments could carry over unused increases for up to five years to plan major projects.

Armstrong, a Republican, acknowledged pushback from local leaders but argued that since the state would soon pay over half of local property tax costs, it should have a say in budget growth. While the idea follows a failed 2024 ballot measure to abolish property taxes outright, Armstrong framed his proposal as a more “durable and responsible” path toward the same goal.

Ohio

A grass-roots campaign is gaining steam in the Buckeye State that would abolish property taxes by adding an amendment to the state Constitution. Citizens for Property Tax Reform was pushing to get property tax abolition on the ballot in 2025, led by a coalition of homeowners who have been pushed to the brink by their tax burdens. However, after failing to gather the required signatures in time for that cycle, the group is now working to place the measure on the 2026 ballot.

The group's spokesperson, Beth Blackmarr, told Realtor.com® that she "hit the floor" after she opened her tax bill to see a 51.9% jump in her assessed value. That shock led her to connect with others who were experiencing similar burdens.

Oklahoma

State Sen. David Bullard’s Ad Valorem Reform Act of 2026 proposes a constitutional amendment to immediately eliminate property taxes for homeowners 65 and older who own their homes outright, while freezing tax rates for all other qualified residents.

“Oklahoma is long overdue for property tax relief for all homeowners, especially those who are retired and live on a fixed income,” Bullard, a Republican, said in a press release. “Removing that tax burden will ease the financial strain that many seniors feel every single day.”

To protect school and local government funding, his plan suggests a transition to a "fair tax" model that replaces property assessments with adjusted sales and consumption taxes. If the Legislature approves the measure during the 2026 session, it will move to a statewide ballot for final voter approval.

Pennsylvania

State Rep. Russ Diamond, a Republican, introduced House Bill 900 with a clear goal: enabling true homeownership without homeowners feeling like tenants of the government. 

"I want people to own their homes and not have to rent from the government, all across Pennsylvania," he told Fox News.

Diamond did not immediately have a plan to offset the loss of revenue from eliminating property taxes, quipping on his Substack that "folks get all twisted into knots over how we’re going to pay for the things those taxes currently pay for—frankly, they’re missing the point."

To offset lost revenue, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, also a Republican, proposed taxing remittances sent internationally (e.g., Western Union transfers) and imposing new taxes on endowments held by Pennsylvania's wealthiest universities.

South Dakota

South Dakota is home to both a grass-roots and legislative push to reduce property tax pain. In the state Legislature, lawmakers have made progress on a bill that would allow counties to ask voters to reduce the county share of property taxes with a local half-cent sales tax.

But some residents don't think the push goes far enough. In response, a grass-roots effort known as Abolish Property Taxes SD is pushing an initiated constitutional amendment to repeal property taxes and replace them with a new “retail transaction” tax, putting the question directly to voters in 2026 if supporters collect enough signatures.

Texas

Even after passing a huge property tax relief package in 2023 and 204, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has made eliminating school property taxes a top priority heading into the 2026 election.

“Every single year, you, my constituents, keep saying our property taxes are too high,” Abbott, a Republican, told supporters at a campaign stop in late 2025. “We have to do more to lower them.”

To do so, he has floated a long-term plan to use state surpluses to buy down school property taxes until they can be phased out entirely.