Granddad used to say, “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, and the next best time is right now.” Our Idaho Freedom Foundation says the same thing about phasing out property taxes. We have published articles and analyses of how Idaho, had it planted the seed of elimination just 10 years ago, could have become the first state where citizens can truly OWN their homes WITHOUT the burden of property taxes.
Yes, it’s a bold proposition, but so were all great changes in policy and property rights. There are always naysayers, throwing the obvious, unimaginative, tiresome, leftist skepticism: “How will we replace the revenue for government?” “Sales taxes will have to be like 11.4% to make up for it,” “How will we fund schools (and school bonds)?” and “You’ll have to create new local sales taxes.”
We have seen other policy folks ask exactly those same skeptical questions and talk of the difficulty of eliminating property taxes because of their complexity. But they fall short on being imaginative, committed, and conservative enough to find the way.
Case in point, in their latest analysis, Mountain States Policy Center (MSPC) does just that. They correctly identify the $2.2 billion annual tax collections on property assessed across the entire state by local taxing authorities. Then MSPC wonders how, if property taxes are eliminated, the revenue will be replaced. They explore raising the state sales tax, allowing for local sales taxes, or forcing local sales taxes to make the difference. But there’s another path; different thinking is required.
At no point do most policy ponderers offer the conservative solution: restrain or cut government spending. It’s as if they assume government is right-sized already and any reductions in taxes must be “paid for” with increases in other taxes. Conservatives should always be asking to reduce, limit, and shrink the scope of government — and tax cuts are one way of forcing the issue.
In his 1981 inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan pointed out how government is not the solution to the problem, but government is often the problem itself. A bold, conservative approach to property tax elimination doesn’t ask how we should replace the tax collections diverted from the government, but instead asks how much government should be cut or constrained in order to keep families from being property-taxed out of their homes. Bold and conservative.
Idaho Freedom Foundation has a record for fighting the growth of government, cutting government, and reducing taxes in all forms. We are on record by publishing variations on a viable and bold plan for eliminating property taxes. Start by limiting government spending growth to inflation plus population, “replacing” the big government spending with property tax reductions, repeating over time, until “voila!” property taxes are wiped clean in less than 10 years.
In September 2024, Idaho Freedom Foundation senior policy analyst Fred Birnbaum, researched the data and history of Idaho state and local government budgets and tax collections on income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. He squared the growth of those budgets (state and local) against what they would have been if they were limited to growth no higher than inflation and population growth — a very reasonable approach to conservative governance — and compared the difference to what was being financed on the backs of property owners.
Here is Birnbaum’s conclusion from the article:
If Idaho had simply restrained spending to inflation plus population growth, then the dream of eliminating property taxes could have been a reality by now. How so? Well, the FY14 state and local revenue collections were $4.9 billion. Grow that by inflation plus population growth until FY23, and revenues would have been $7.2 billion. And that would have been $2.3 billion less than the actual state and local revenues of $9.5 billion. Enough to erase property taxes!
Notice this plan indeed works, and it is the mildest approach to eliminating property taxes. A bolder, more conservative approach would get us there sooner. Instead of just “growing our way” out of a property tax by using the innate growth in other taxes to offset it, Idaho could do more than merely limit government growth — it could cut government. The plan would work even better when inefficient government spending is removed, programs are eliminated, and waste, fraud, and abuse are mitigated. The property tax might be eliminated in 5 years or even sooner under such a scenario.
We invite all conservative minds and activists to join Idaho Freedom Foundation’s effort. Start with the mindset that we can do big things despite the complexity and intractability of big government. Sure, the property tax and what it funds are complex leviathans, but if they can be created by political forces, they can be repealed by the same.
We see three main roadblocks to getting property taxes finally eliminated in Idaho: 1. The lack of will by politicians to upset the momentum of big government and its income stream, 2. The complexity involved in using other state tax collections’ growth for phasing out the local property tax collections (it requires math and planning to get the amounts fair and consistent), and 3. The huge swaths of government and special interests dependent on property taxes.
Here are the freedom and conservative responses to the roadblocks:
Idaho stands on the precipice of something huge — we could and should lead out on property tax elimination. The plan works, the steps are clear, and all that’s needed are willing and strong leaders to finally plant the seed of property tax elimination.
It would have been best to get the plan in place 20 years ago (Idahoans would have had tens of billions of dollars more in their pockets over those years). But it wasn’t. It would have been good to get the plan in place 10 years ago. But it wasn’t. The next best time to plant the seed of property tax repeal is NOW. Let’s get it done. Some legislators, like Senate candidate Scott Herndon, are pushing versions of the plan for the 2027 legislative session; other conservative legislators should sign on and resolve to do it for the people.
Let’s not find ourselves in 5, 10, or 20 years only wishing Idaho had planted the tree of unfettered property rights and liberty in ownership in 2027. We invite all conservative-minded folks to join us in pushing for full repeal of property taxes. Now is the time to do something big.
