Amendment 2: Ban on a state property tax
Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee Constitution · Last verified October 13, 2026
Just the facts
Plain-English summary
Tennessee has not collected a state-level property tax since 1949, but the legislature could create one today with an ordinary law. This amendment would write a ban on any state property tax into the Constitution, so a future state property tax would require another constitutional amendment approved by voters. Property taxes set by counties and cities are not affected. A YES vote adds the ban; a NO vote keeps the current language.
Official summary (Attorney General)
This amendment adds text to Article II, section 28 of the Tennessee Constitution that prohibits the Legislature from imposing a State property tax on real, personal, or mixed property.
Official ballot question
Verbatim from the Tennessee Secretary of State.
Fiscal note
The Fiscal Review Committee estimates a one-time increase in local government expenditures of $9,400 in FY 2026-27 for the cost of publishing a longer sample ballot. The note does not estimate any other costs. Read the fiscal note.
How the legislature voted
A proposed amendment must pass two consecutive General Assemblies — a majority in the first, two-thirds in the second — before it goes to voters.
| Resolution | Chamber | Date | Yes | No | Present, not voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HJR 81 (113th) | House | April 21, 2023 | 81 | 11 | 0 |
| HJR 81 (113th) | Senate | March 28, 2024 | 26 | 6 | 0 |
| SJR 1 (114th) | Senate | March 26, 2025 | 26 | 5 | 1 |
| SJR 1 (114th) | House | April 21, 2025 | 89 | 6 | 0 |
Full text of the resolutions
Arguments
Each argument is paraphrased from a published source and shown without saying who made it. Order within each column is shuffled. Why?
Reasons to vote YES
- Even the possibility of a state property tax is a barrier for businesses large and small deciding whether to locate or expand in Tennessee and create jobs.[1]
- Property tax should remain a local revenue source. A state levy would compete with counties and cities for the same tax base, and would be a tempting alternative to cutting spending when budgets get tight.[2] [3]
- Homeowners, farmers, and businesses already pay local property taxes. The ban protects them from ever being taxed twice on the same property by both the state and local government.[4] [5] [6]
- Farmers can owe more tax when land values rise even if their income does not, and older residents on fixed incomes are especially exposed to property tax bills. A permanent ban removes that risk at the state level.[7]
- Avoiding an extra state tax keeps the cost of owning property down, which helps first-time buyers and renters, since property taxes are passed on to tenants as higher rent, and encourages building and maintaining affordable housing.[4] [6] [7] [8]
- Like the 2014 amendment banning a state tax on payroll and earned income, this puts a basic tax decision in the hands of voters rather than lawmakers, and locks in the low-tax approach that has drawn residents and businesses to the state.[4] [8] [9]
- Today a future legislature could create a state property tax with an ordinary majority vote. Once the ban is in the Constitution, undoing it would take passage by two legislatures, a two-thirds vote in the second, and approval from voters.[4] [7]
- Counties and cities keep full authority to levy property taxes, so local funding for schools, roads, and first responders is not affected.[7]
Reasons to vote NO
- Locking the ban into the Constitution binds lawmakers decades from now, whatever circumstances they face, including war, economic collapse, or another genuine state emergency.[6] [9]
- The amendment limits a taxing power the state does not use while leaving untouched the taxes it actually collects. A serious effort to limit taxing authority would start with those.[9]
- The amendment is unnecessary. The state has not taxed property since 1949, no one is proposing to bring it back, and there is no threat to guard against.[5] [9] [10]
- The state already requires local governments to levy property taxes, so banning a state property tax does not take the state out of property taxation.[3]
How an amendment passes. Each amendment is a yes-or-no question listed directly after the governor's race. It passes only if both are true:
- it gets more "yes" votes than "no" votes, and
- its "yes" votes are more than half of all votes cast in the governor's race.
Because of the second rule, leaving an amendment question blank works against it the same way a "no" vote does. Source: Tennessee Secretary of State.More on how this guide works.
Sources (10)
Listed in numeric order. Numbers match the markers in the text above.
- 'Yes on 2' launches to support constitutional amendment to ban state property tax (Tennessee Farm Bureau) — tnfarmbureau.org, accessed October 13, 2026
- Tennessee lawmakers push ban on state property tax (Tennessee Lookout) — tennesseelookout.com, accessed October 13, 2026
- Tennessee Senate votes for resolution blocking statewide property tax (Claiborne Progress / The Center Square) — claiborneprogress.net, accessed October 13, 2026
- Ban on state property tax on November ballot for Tennessee voters (Chattanooga Times Free Press) — timesfreepress.com, accessed October 13, 2026
- Tennessee Amendment 2 — Prohibit a state property tax (Ballot Explained) — ballotexplained.com, accessed October 13, 2026
- Tennessee Senate advances amendment to ban state property tax (FOX 17) — fox17.com, accessed October 13, 2026
- Vote Yes on Amendment 2 to keep Tennessee free from a state property tax (op-ed, Chattanooga Times Free Press) — timesfreepress.com, accessed October 13, 2026
- Why Tennessee Doesn't Need a State Property Tax (Beacon Center) — beacontn.org, accessed October 13, 2026
- Tennessee voters to decide whether to ban a tax the state hasn't collected in 77 years (WKRN, via Yahoo News) — yahoo.com, accessed October 13, 2026
- Constitutional Amendment #2 voter guide (Tennessee Lookout) — tennesseelookout.com, accessed October 13, 2026