Voters in Tennessee are projected to approve Amendment 2 which bans any future statewide property tax in Tennessee and enshrines the prohibition in the state constitution.
Tennessee has not had a statewide property tax since 1949, though the state legislature technically retained the constitutional authority to create one. Instead, property taxes are levied at the local level.
At 11:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the measure had 66.4% support with 82% of votes reporting, according to the Associated Press. An amendment to the Tennessee constitution passes if it gets at least 50% support, and the number of “yes” votes is more than half of all votes cast for governor.
Republican State Rep. Tandy Darby sponsored the amendment and said “it ensures that the state cannot impose property taxes again, putting taxpayers’ interests first and reinforcing local control.”
Amendment 2 would not prevent counties and municipal authorities from levying property taxes, but would prohibit the General Assembly from issuing property taxes now and in the future.
In order to change that, the state constitution would have to be amended once more, which would require a two-thirds vote in two legislative sessions and voter approval.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee came out in support of the initiative. It’s supported by the National Federation of Independent Business as well as the Tennessee Realtors®.
Conservative nonprofit Tennessee Stands said the amendment “reinforces the principle that private property rights should never be subject to excessive government taxation or the threat of confiscation.”
Some Democrats have opposed it on the grounds that the ban does not need to be written into the constitution and should remain a state statute.
Julie Gerstein is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia. She previously worked at Business Insider as an executive editor covering news, entertainment, and digital culture, and was the company’s founding Singapore bureau chief. She was also a senior editor at BuzzFeed, covering lifestyle, fashion, and beauty. She earned a B.A. in women’s studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in media and cultural studies from the University of Sussex.
