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North Dakota Prohibit Property Taxes Initiative (2022)
| North Dakota Prohibit Property Taxes Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Taxes | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The North Dakota Prohibit Property Taxes Initiative was not on the ballot in North Dakota as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.
Measure design
This measure was designed to prohibit property taxes in the state except for those designed to pay for bonded indebtedness incurred before December 2, 2020. The measure would have limited the debt of a political subdivision (such as counties, cities, and towns) to 2.5% of the value of real property in the subdivision. Incorporated cities would have been able to raise the debt limit to 4% through a two-thirds supermajority vote and school districts would have been able to raise the debt limit to 5% through a simple majority vote. Cities would have been able to become indebted by an additional 2% for water and sewer projects. A political subdivision would not have been able to issue general obligation bonds to be paid back through property taxes after December 2, 2020.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The petition title for this initiative would have been as follows:[1]
| “ | This initiated measure would amend sections 1, 14, 15, and 16 and repeal sections 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10 of Article X of the North Dakota Constitution. It would prohibit political subdivisions from levying any tax on real or personal property except for the payment of bonded indebtedness incurred before December 2, 2020, and would require the state to provide replacement payments to political subdivisions of no less than the amount of tax levied on real property during the 2020 calendar year. It would limit the debt of a political subdivision to an amount not to exceed two and one-half percent of the full and true value of the real property in the political subdivision, except that an incorporated city, by a two-thirds vote, could increase the indebtedness of the city one and one-half percent beyond the two and one-half percent limit and a school district, by a majority vote, could increase the indebtedness of the school district two and one-half percent beyond the two and one-half percent limit. It would allow an incorporated city, without regard to the existing indebtedness of the city, to become indebted in an amount not exceeding two percent of its full and true value for water and sewer projects. It would require a political subdivision incurring indebtedness to provide for annual revenues to pay the debt payments when due and would prohibit a political subdivision from issuing general obligation bonds secured with tax levied on the assessed value of property after December 2, 2020.[2] | ” |
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In North Dakota, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 4 percent of the population of the state. North Dakota is unique in using the population to determine signature requirements for initiatives and referendums. Petitioners may circulate a petition for one year following the secretary of state's initial approval. The signatures must be submitted at least 120 days prior to the election.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2022 ballot:
- Signatures: 31,164
- Deadline: Each initiative has its own signature deadline of one year after it was approved for circulation. The final deadline to submit signatures regardless of a petition's approval date was July 11, 2022.
Once the signatures have been gathered, the secretary of state verifies them using a random sample method. Since North Dakota does not have a voter registration system, the secretary of state may use "questionnaires, postcards, telephone calls, personal interviews, or other accepted information-gathering techniques" to verify the selected signatures.
Details about this initiative
- The initiative was filed by North Dakota Representative Rick Becker (R-7) on March 16, 2020. It was approved for signature gathering on March 25, 2020, with 26,904 valid signatures due before midnight on July 6, 2020, to qualify for the November 2020 ballot. To qualify for the November 2022 ballot, signatures were due by March 25, 2021.[3]
- Sponsors did not submit signatures by the deadline on July 6, 2020. Becker said the initiative never got off the ground. He said, "As of February of this year, things were lined up perfectly for this to be the best thing ever for North Dakota, and then we had COVID and the temporary drop in oil prices, which was going to make it nearly impossible." Becker said he would be open to pursuing the ballot measure in an amended form in 2022.[4]
- Signatures to qualify the measure for the 2022 ballot were not submitted by the deadline on March 25, 2021.[3]
See also
External links
- Full text/approved petition
- Timeline
- North Dakota Secretary of State: Ballot Petitions Being Circulated
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 North Dakota Secretary of State, "North Dakota Prohibiting all political subdivisions from levying any tax on real or personal property except for bonded indebtedness until paid initiative full text," accessed March 27, 2020
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 North Dakota Secretary of State, "Ballot Petitions Being Circulated," accessed March 27, 2020
- ↑ Bismarck Tribune, "Some North Dakota ballot measure groups readjust to 2022," accessed July 6, 2020
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