MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — Many of us are used to paying our county property taxes, but nearly a century ago, Tennesseans had to pay state property taxes too.
Then, in 1949, the Tennessee legislature replaced the state property tax with our current sales tax.
Well, sort of.
Rob Mitchell, the Rutherford County Property Assessor, noticed in Tennessee law that the state property tax is still technically in effect. The rate has just been set at zero for more than seven decades.
Rob explains his research in the player above.
"All property shall be assessed for state and local taxation, and I thought, 'Wait a minute, we don’t pay a state property tax, why is it in the constitution?'" said Mitchell. "The process is still in place where the General Assembly just has to say, we need money, and they assign a tax rate."
So Mitchell started a Change.org petition to amend the Tennessee Constitution, to ban any attempt to resurrect the state property tax.
"2017 was when I started on this," he said.
That's the thing. Amending the Tennessee Constitution is not a simple task. It has to pass two different general assemblies. Step one happened earlier this year. Lawmakers will consider the bill again this next year when the 114th General Assembly convenes. If it passes a second time, Tennessee voters will be able to make the final decision at the ballot box in 2026.
While the amendment proposal passed with ease earlier this year, a few Democrats did oppose the proposal.
State Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, posed the question, asking if Tennessee should block itself from ever having the option.
"We haven’t done this for 75 years. I’m not familiar with any serious attempts to do so. I don’t think we should undertake such attempts," said Sen. Yarbro on the Tennessee Senate floor. "This is something we had that was a capacity that could be utilized in times of genuine state emergency, and I think there’s value in that."
As you might expect, Mitchell still thinks it's needed.
"There was never a necessity then, there wasn’t a necessity during COVID, there’s not a necessity now," said Mitchell. "It’s very easy to just say, 'eh,' people won’t notice it too much. We’ll just levy a 5-cent property tax."
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@newschannel5.com.
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