Justin Owen: Why Tennessee Doesn’t Need a State Property Tax

This November, Tennesseans will go to the polls to elect their next governor, members of Congress, and state legislators. They will also decide on three constitutional amendments, the second of which would ban a state property tax.

Most Tennesseans don’t realize that until 1949, Tennessee actually had a state property tax. Even though it was repealed then in favor of the sales tax-based structure we are familiar with today, a future legislature could reimpose a property tax by a simple majority vote. Amendment 2 would prohibit the re-enactment of a state property tax in the Tennessee Constitution.

This amendment impacts every Tennessean. If you are a homeowner, this will prevent your home from being double-taxed at the state level after already being taxed at the local level. If you own a family farm, you already pay hefty local property taxes and don’t need the burden of an additional state property tax. And if you own a business, it’s already taxed in a myriad of ways, too. A state property tax would only add to your tax burden. Even if you don’t own property and are a renter, property taxes are passed on to you in the form of higher rent, so this impacts you just as much as it does homeowners.

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This amendment is very similar to the effort to forever ban a state income tax in 2014. This would just add a state property tax to the list of taxes the state can never impose on us.

Tennessee prides itself on having one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation. Allowing Tennesseans to keep their hard-earned money is part of our identity. We’ve made it just fine for more than 75 years without a state property tax, and we’ll be just fine in the future without one.

It appears that Tennesseans agree. Multiple recent polls, including an April 2025 Beacon Poll, indicate that more than six in 10 voters support banning a state property tax.

Tennesseans should never fear that their homes, farms, and businesses could be double-taxed, first by their local government, then again by their state government. By banning a state property tax, Amendment 2 would prevent that double taxation forever.