North Dakota voters will have before them in November a measure to shake up property tax in the state.
Dr. Rick Becker, a former Republican legislator, is Chairman of the End Unfair Property Tax committee. He says the way property taxes are assessed and levied is unfair; and this measure would shift the source of funding for local services without eliminating the funding altogether. Becker served in the legislature for ten years, and says his number one complaint was about property taxes. And Becker says most people he’s spoken with disagree with how valuations on property are determined – but that it’s also the most misunderstood way taxes are levied in the first place.
"How do we go from full and true value to assessed value to taxable value, how do we determine mill levies and how is that applied to the different classes of property? Very few people can answer that. So it's really in my mind, concerning, that one of the three main ways we tax people, and the only way in which someone could lose their house if they can't afford the increasing taxes, is a tax that nobody understands? So how can we have true transparency and true access as a taxpayer, to go and lodge our complaints or concerns, if we don't even understand it?"
If approved, Measure 4 would prohibit political subdivisions from levying tax on the assessed value of real or personal property. It would also require the state to replace payments to those political subdivisions of no less than the current property tax levels. It would create a $3.15 billion impact to the 2025-2027 biennium.
For more on Measure 4 from Dr. Rick Becker, tune in to Wednesday’s episode of Main Street.