What Tennessee’s proposed constitutional amendment on property taxes would actually change
by Brandon Burley and The Redemption Project
A Tennessee homeowner opens a property tax bill and sees a charge from the county, the city or both.
What that homeowner does not see is a statewide Tennessee property tax.
That has been true for decades. Tennessee’s proposed amendment language says the state imposed a property tax until 1949, when the Legislature repealed it. But the absence of a current state property tax is not the same thing as a constitutional ban.
That distinction is why Tennessee voters are expected to see a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot that would prohibit the state from taxing property. The proposal would amend Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee Constitution, the section that governs property taxation in the state.
Before voters decide whether they support or oppose the amendment, the first question is simple:
What would actually change?
At its core, the amendment is not about eliminating property taxes in Tennessee.
It is about
