Nationwide, state by state, property taxes are spiking. They seem determined to keep rising. The effect on young and on seniors is elevated anxiety, a direct challenge not just to home ownership and home retention, but to sustainable rental at median income. The American Dream is receding. Why, and how do we stop it?
On the facts, real estate analytics show what many feel: Property taxes are out of control. Realtor.com reports that, “More than 72 percent of metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 residents saw above-average increases in property-tax bills last year…” In rural areas, where city dwellers fled from COVID, the jump is worse.
“Nationally, the average property-tax bill on a single-family home increased by 2.7 percent in 2024… but in 157 of these 217 metropolitan areas, those bills jumped by more than that.”
Another data point: “The report also shows that the average tax on a single-family home in the U.S. rose to $4,300 in 2024, a 5.8 percent increase over the previous year,” adding to 2023, when “the average tax on a single-family home…increased 4.1 percent over the prior year.”
So, on the national level, why? The short answer is the Biden years, when inflation spiked – so the cost of everything rose. The CPI (Consumer Price Index) grew at 20 percent in the Biden years, meaning inflation was enormous – the direct result of overspending, overtaxing, a retreat from fossil fuels, and expensive green subsidies.
Narrowing the gauge, other mysteries persist. Why are rural properties proving more expensive? Rural property taxes are often proportionally higher. The national answer is post-COVID growth in “remote work” and rising city violence.
In some states, especially in New England, property taxes have risen at unusually high rates. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire (which has no income tax), and Maine (which has gone deep into leftist policies) are exceptionally high.
So, before getting to solutions – and calculating the national likelihood of a property tax revolt of the kind not seen in decades – what is up with New England?
In Connecticut and Massachusetts, a combination of high energy costs, shrinking populations, and poor local infrastructure (covered by property taxes) is responsible, while in New Hampshire, the absence of some state services, due to no income tax, leads to unfunded mandates falling on local government.
Maine may be the best example of bad policy top to bottom. Here is why. In Maine, beyond hundreds of “woke,” unnecessary state mandates pushed on schools, law enforcement, and local government, the state is wildly anti-business.
In effect, by politicizing energy, stopping fossil fuel growth, for example, by connecting Maine to Pennsylvania’s cheap national gas pipeline, relentlessly subsidizing solar and wind with “net energy billing,” making poor taxpayers fund rich environmentalists, killing hydropower, blocking nuclear redevelopment, and overtaxing businesses, the state is failing in an epic way.
Moreover, by overtaxing large and small businesses – with disproportionately high income and sales taxes, excess regulations and restrictions – businesses are leaving the state, failing and shrinking at record levels, leading to a four percent drop in commercial property values, while homes are reassessed at a higher value.
Like a throttle stuck open, that Democrat-dominated state proves the rule. When a state has no checks on power, when one party dominates, spends like crazy, taxes like crazy, and then pushes crazy woke policies over basic affordability, all things fail.
Property taxes nationwide – and especially in failed states like Maine – are on a tear, causing young people to suffer, since they cannot save for a home as rental costs exceed their monthly income, and seniors lose their homes, with skyrocketing property taxes outstripping their fixed incomes.
So, how do we fix this mess? The answer is not complicated, but it does take political courage. Either referenda should be passed, emerging in seven states, to stop property taxes, or leaders must be elected who will cut state mandates (many woke) on schools, counties, and towns, while cutting the budget to allow tax incentives for attracting and retaining businesses, restarting commercial revenue.
The real choice, as always, is between incentivizing economic growth, safety, education, and the link among those three, or doing the reverse, disincentivizing them with high spending, taxes, insecurity, and leftist political nonsense.
Bottom line: Either way, if you put your finger in the wind, you will feel a stiff wind building, and that wind is public anxiety over property taxes, which could easily develop into a Category 5 hurricane, a 2026 property tax revolt. Keep watching!
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
Read full article here