Danielle Muoio Dunn (Bloomberg Law): Property Taxes Take Center Stage in Florida, Wyoming, Tennessee

Voters across six states weighed in on more than a dozen ballot initiatives to lower and even prohibit residential property taxes, highlighting how housing costs have helped turn affordability into a keystone issue in the midterm elections.

Florida voters approved Amendment 3 to raise the current $50,000 homestead exemption for primary residents to $250,000 in 2028. It’s estimated to cost the state roughly $5 billion in its first year of implementation, growing to $12 billion annually. The expanded exemption doesn’t apply to school taxes.

In North Carolina, voters signed off on a ballot measure capping how much property taxes can increase in a given year.

Georgia voters cleared a property tax break for conservation or agricultural land. In Louisiana, voters weighed in on five different property tax ballot measures, including approving a $30,000 property tax abatement for seniors that grows with age. New Hampshire is the only other state that offers a graduated tax break to seniors.

Voters in Tennessee, which doesn’t currently have a property tax, decided to bar lawmakers from ever instituting one.

Property tax cuts didn’t fare as well in some states. A Wyoming ballot initiative to reduce the assessed value of a primary residence by 50% didn’t pass.

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Oklahoma voters halted a similar measure that would’ve imposed stricter limits on annual property value increases.