Major property tax bill clears committee with flexibility on caps
Rep. Craig Headland, R-Montpelier, presents an amendment to a property tax bill on Feb. 6, 2025. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)
A nearly $500 million property tax overhaul championed by the governor cleared its first hurdle Thursday in the North Dakota House.
House Bill 1176 is based on a plan proposed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong earlier this year to roughly triple a property tax credit for homeowners.
The bill would cap annual property tax increases for local governments at 3% each year. The program would be funded in part with earnings from the state's Legacy Fund.
The House Finance and Taxation Committee voted 12-2 Thursday evening to forward the bill to the House Appropriations Committee.
Rep. Ty Dressler, R-Richardton, and Rep. Dennis Nehring, R-Williston, were the only no votes.
The bill, as amended Thursday by the committee, is estimated to cost the state about $473 million for the 2025-27 budget cycle, according to committee chair Rep. Craig Headland, R-Montpelier.
The primary residence tax credit was introduced in 2023 as a property tax discount for most North Dakota homeowners.
As originally written, the bill would have increased the state's primary residence tax credit from $500 to $1,550 for the first year. Thursday's amendment slightly lowered that figure to $1,450.
The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, received pushback from some cities and counties about the 3% cap.
Under the proposal, local governments would be able to 'bank' unused property tax increases for up to five years.
Thursday's changes suggested by Headland provide more flexibility to cities and governments with respect to the property tax caps, as well — including allowing them to seek permission from voters to opt out of the caps for 10 years at a time.
The amendment also eliminates income taxes for single filers who make up to roughly $54,000 a year, expanding on income tax cuts lawmakers made two years ago. For married taxpayers, that level would increase to nearly $90,000.
North Dakota governor unveils bold property tax plan in first State of the State address
Reps. Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, and Austin Foss, D-Fargo, voted against Headland's amendment. During discussion on the amendment, Ista indicated opposition to the income tax cuts.
Some agriculture groups had advocated for property tax cuts for farmers and ranchers. The amended bill does not address that, but the committee is considering other proposals as well, Headland said.
If the bill is approved by the House Appropriations Committee, then it will go to the full House chamber for a vote.
The House Finance and Taxation Committee will consider additional property tax proposals on Monday, Headland said.
Armstrong said earlier this year he wants to eliminate property taxes for most homeowners within the next 10 years. His goal is for the program to become self-sustaining by using Legacy Fund earnings, eventually eliminating reliance on the state's general fund.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
14 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Hasn't Briefed ‘Gang of Eight' on Iran
Trump said he hadn't yet notified the so-called Gang of Eight senators and members of the House about his plans on Iran. 'We'll be talking to them. It's not necessary,' he told reporters on Air Force One. The Gang of Eight includes the majority and minority leaders of both parties and the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees. U.S. law requires the president to keep the committees informed of U.S. intelligence activities, including significant anticipated actions, but reporting can be limited under extraordinary circumstances
Axios
4 hours ago
- Axios
AOC floats Trump impeachment over Iran strikes
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Saturday floated the prospect of impeaching President Trump for striking Iran without explicit authorization from Congress. Why it matters: It's a shocking declaration by one of House Democrats' most high-profile progressives at a time when most in the party are instinctively rejecting the mere mention of impeachment. Considerable intra-party scorn has been heaped on Reps. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Al Green (D-Texas) for floating votes on impeaching Trump. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Driving the news: " The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers," Ocasio-Cortez posted on X. "He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations," she wrote. "It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment." "More soon," Ocasio-Cortez's reelection campaign wrote in a fundraising email obtained by Axios. Zoom out: The call for impeachment puts Ocasio-Cortez on the far end of Democrats' spectrum of responses, but it reflects the broad anger with which the party has reacted to Trump's unilateral actions.
4 hours ago
Brother and sister compete for Florida state Senate seat in a sibling showdown
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Randolph Bracy and LaVon Bracy Davis are taking sibling rivalry to a new level as the brother and sister run against each other in a race for a Florida state Senate seat on Tuesday. Not only that, one of their opponents for the Democratic nomination in the district representing parts of metro Orlando is Alan Grayson, a combative former Democratic U.S. congressman who drew national attention in 2009 when he said in a House floor speech that the Republican health care plan was to 'die quickly.' The headline-grabbing candidates are running in the special primary election for the seat that had been held by Geraldine Thompson, a trailblazing veteran lawmaker who died earlier this year following complications from knee-replacement surgery. A fourth candidate also is running in the Democratic primary — personal injury attorney Coretta Anthony-Smith. The winner will face Republican Willie Montague in September for the general election in the Democratic-dominant district. Black voters make up more than half registered Democrats in the district. Both siblings have experience in the state legislature. Bracy Davis was a state representative, and Bracy was a former state senator. Adding to the family dynamics was the fact that the siblings' mother, civil rights activist Lavon Wright Bracy, was the maid of honor at Thompson's wedding and was one of her oldest friends. She has endorsed her daughter over her son. The siblings' family has been active in Orlando's civic life for decades. Their father, Randolph Bracy Jr., was a local NAACP president, a founder of a Baptist church in Orlando and director of the religion department at Bethune-Cookman University. It wasn't the first time the family has been caught up in competing endorsements. When Bracy and Thompson ran against each other for the Democratic primary in a state senate race last year, Bracy Davis endorsed Thompson over her brother. Campaign fliers sent out recently by a Republican political operative start with 'Bracy Yourself!' Bracy, 48, who one time played professional basketball in Turkey, told the Orlando Sentinel that it was 'disappointing and hurtful' for his sister to run after he had announced his bid. But Bracy Davis, 45, an attorney by training, said she was running for the people in state senate District 15, not against any of the other candidates. She said that she intended to continue Thompson's legacy of pushing for voters' rights and increasing pay for public schoolteachers. Thompson's family has endorsed Bracy Davis. Grayson was elected to Congress in 2008 and voted out in 2010. Voters sent him back to Congress in 2012, but he gave up his seat for an unsuccessful 2016 Senate run.
