Democrats have adopted “affordability!” as their election battle cry — but Republicans are ready to turn the tables.
They’re looking to woo homeowners, who make up 65% of American households.
Across the nation, homeowners are angry about soaring property taxes — and ready to fight.
Their homes have appreciated sharply on paper, but they don’t have more cash in their pockets to pay the higher taxes that follow rising home values.
That means a property-tax revolt could shape the political map in the November 2026 midterms
Stephen Moore of Unleash Prosperity predicts fierce battles in state capitals, as teachers’ unions and other special interests start scaremongering about damaging school budget cuts and other perils to fend off the building tax-relief movement.
But taxpayers are on to their game: State laws forcing towns to regularly reassess home values means more local revenue out of homeowners’ pockets — and into public employees’ paychecks.
And so far, it looks like property-tax relief is a winner for the GOP.
The movement is dominating in Texas and Florida, and it’s underway in Wyoming and Wisconsin.
It might even catch fire here in tax-hell New York state and in beleaguered next-door Connecticut.
In the blue city of Austin, Texas, a huge 63% of voters last month rejected a property-tax increase proposal pushed by the Democratic mayor and City Council.
Now Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants to set a 3% annual statewide cap on assessment increases, styling himself as a homeownership protector.
Smart politics.
Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis is making property-tax reform his issue, too: He’s floated a plan to eliminate property taxes entirely, replacing them with sales taxes, a state fund to help the poorest counties, and — imagine this — frugality.
Florida epitomizes to the plight of homeowners as property values there soar.
One Panama City retiree told his local paper that his modest two-bedroom, two-bath home just got slapped with $4,200 in property taxes — well over 10% of his $32,000 income.
Florida has a very sensible law, the Save Our Homes Act, that limits annual assessment increases to 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
But when real estate turns over, the limit doesn’t apply — and in some counties, home values have tripled over the last decade, making property-tax reform a top issue in the Sunshine State
Here’s the irony: Floridians are living in tax paradise, compared to New York.
New Yorkers cough up more state and local taxes per capita than any other state’s residents, according to the Tax Foundation.
Of the seven counties in the nation with the highest property-tax bills, six are in New York: Westchester, Suffolk, Rockland, Putnam, Nassau and Manhattan.
Of the nation’s metropolitan areas, economically depressed Syracuse has the highest property tax rate, demanding $28.82 per $1,000 worth of property — because of the city’s out-of-control spending, says Robert Ward of the Business Council Policy Institute.
Truth is, New York’s situation would be even worse without a 2010 state law that caps annual local property-tax increases to 2% (or the rate of inflation) unless the voters override it.
But as homes are bought and sold, the cap is lifted — and the taxes soar.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who froze assessments for four straight years to avert tax increases and won re-election in a heavily Democratic county, sees the explosive political potential of the issue. He’s now seeking a run for governor.
His GOP rival for that nomination, Rep. Elise Stefanik, also gets it. Her campaign spokesman told me, “Multiple states across the country have eliminated or are considering eliminating property taxes, and so should New York.”
Next door in Connecticut, where home prices have risen 60% over the last five years, property taxes are skyrocketing to match.
But the Democrat-dominated state capitol keeps pushing for more revenue to keep the government gravy train running, and won’t consider a tax cap. Homeowners be damned.
With outrage rising, that could change.
President Donald Trump is eyeing the chance to push home affordability into the national spotlight.
Moore, a Trump adviser, says the president may soon push for an 18-month tax window, during which owners could sell their homes without paying the full 24% capital-gains tax on the transaction — or possibly any tax at all.
That would encourage empty-nesters to downsize, freeing housing inventory for young families, easing home prices — and helping the GOP keep control of Congress.
The president teased a coming homeownership program in his Tuesday address to the nation. Stay tuned.
Homeownership is the American dream.
Property taxes threaten it.
As voters of all persuasions feel the pain, a tax revolt could make 2026 an upset election season.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.
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