BY: NORTH DAKOTA MONITOR STAFF
A ballot initiative that would eliminate assessed value property tax was approved for inclusion on the general election ballot by the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office on Friday.
If approved by voters in November, the initiative would prohibit political subdivisions from “levying any tax on real or personal property except for bonded indebtedness until paid,” according to the language approved for the ballot.
Supporters have previously said the measure would not prohibit local subdivisions from levying taxes or fees to homeowners based on parcel square footage, road frontage or building size, among other possible criteria.
Previously, Adam Mathiak, senior fiscal analyst for the Legislative Council, said the measure would cost the state about $1.3 billion every fiscal year in lost revenue.
The Secretary of State’s Office approved nearly 36,000 signatures of the more than 41,000 signatures submitted by the sponsoring committee in June – about 4,500 more than were needed for approval, according to a news release from the office.
More than 5,700 signatures were ruled invalid by the Secretary of State’s Office during the more than monthlong validation period, the news release said. About 1,900 signatures were disallowed because the petition was not circulated to signatories in its entirety; more than 1,000 were invalidated for address omissions; and more than 1,500 were disallowed for inadequate signatures, among other issues.
The property tax measure will appear as Measure 4 on the November ballot next to three measures approved by the Legislature, the office said.
A ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota could be the fifth ballot measure to appear on the November ballot, if the Secretary of State’s Office approves the initiative’s submitted signatures by the Aug. 12 deadline.
A coalition of more than 60 groups called Keep It Local announced its opposition to the ballot measure because it would force undue hardships on local governments and threaten funding for emergency services, schools and local senior programs.
Previously, Rick Becker, chair of the property tax initiative’s sponsoring committee called claims by the Keep It Local group “unfounded,” and the group was engaging in “a campaign of fear.”
