North Dakota voters will decide in November whether to eliminate property taxes. The change would be a first for a state and a major move.

North Dakota voters will decide this fall whether to eliminate property taxes in what would be a first for a state and a major change that officials initially estimate would require more than $1 billion every year in replacement revenue.

Secretary of State Michael Howe’s office said Friday that backers submitted more than enough signatures to qualify the constitutional initiative for the November general election. Voters rejected a similar measure in 2012.

Property taxes are the base funding for numerous local government services, including sewers, water, roads, jails, deputies, school building construction and teacher salaries — “pretty much the most basic of government,” said North Dakota Association of Counties Executive Director Aaron Birst.

  • @loie
    4•4 months ago

    Definitely not. There’s Teddy Roosevelt National Park, which is gorgeous, but it doesn’t attract nearly as much tourism of all the stuff that’s four hours south…

    South Dakota has Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Mammoth Site, Black Hills National Forest, Deadwood and Sturgis, a couple good private zoos in Reptile Gardens and Bear Country. All of that stuff is within a 1 hour drive of Rapid City, which has plenty of good hotels and restaurants and just generally what you’d expect from a modern midsize city. Rapid City is honestly worth the trip for anyone, but If you’re a real outdoorsy person then you could easily enjoy a month out there. Oh and then not that far away (relatively speaking - 2 hours drive) is Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.

    So no… NoDak is comparatively sparse. And they probably like it that way.

    • @AbidanYreEnglish
      3•4 months ago

      NoDak is comparatively sparse. And they probably like it that way.

      And therein lies the problem. New Hampshire gets away with it because they have money coming in from people visiting the state (and the state owning the liquor stores).

      • @loie
        2•4 months ago

        And they get some “bedroom community” money from people working in and around Boston that don’t want to live in Mass. Not an unreasonable commute down i93 or i95, especially if your job is in the north burbs.

        Pretty sure none of that applies in North Dakota. Maybe there’s folks working in Fargo or Grand Forks that prefer Minnesota? But it’s not many.