Amendment 2 would ban state property taxes

Tennessee has not collected state property tax since 1949. Amendment 2 would constitutionally prohibit one in future.

11:20 a.m. Aug. 20, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Moore County voters will see a property tax question on the Nov. 3 ballot, but it will not change the property tax bill they already pay.

Tennessee Amendment 2 would prohibit the General Assembly from levying, authorizing, or otherwise allowing a state property tax. Tennessee does not currently collect one.

The amendment would not eliminate, lower, or cap property taxes charged by Moore County or other local governments. Those taxes would remain in place. Amendment 2 deals only with whether the state could impose its own property tax in the future.

In simple terms, a yes vote would put a ban on state property taxes into the Tennessee Constitution. A no vote would leave the Constitution as it is today, meaning state lawmakers would retain the authority to create a state property tax in the future.

Tennessee has not had a state property tax since 1949

Tennessee has gone more than 75 years without collecting a state property tax.

The state's last such tax was repealed by Public Chapter 90 in 1949, according to the Tennessee General Assembly's Fiscal Review Committee.

So Amendment 2 would not repeal an existing tax. Instead, voters are being asked whether to lock the state's long-standing practice into the Constitution.

The proposed language would be added to Article II, Section 28. It would prohibit the Legislature from "levying, authorizing, or otherwise permitting" a state tax on property.

The fiscal note for the current amendment states that the measure will appear on the November 2026 general election ballot. Because there is no state property tax now, the proposal does not eliminate an existing source of state revenue.

Lawmakers already cleared the way

Changing Tennessee's Constitution takes more than one vote by the Legislature.

A proposed amendment must pass two successive General Assemblies, with an election between them. It needs a simple majority during the first legislative session and a two-thirds vote in each chamber during the second.

The property tax amendment cleared its final legislative hurdle in 2025 as Senate Joint Resolution 1.

The Senate approved it 26-5, with one member present but not voting. The House later approved it 89-6. Those votes sent the question to voters.

Amendment 2 is one of three proposed constitutional amendments certified for Tennessee's Nov. 3 ballot.

Passage takes more than a simple Election Day majority

Tennessee also has an unusual rule for passing constitutional amendments.

Amendment 2 must win a majority of votes cast on the question, but its "yes" vote also must equal a majority of the total number of Tennesseans who vote in the governor's race.

That means voters who cast a ballot for governor but skip the amendment still affect the number of yes votes needed for it to pass.

A statewide Yes on 2 campaign has formed to support the amendment. The coalition includes the Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee REALTORS, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business' Tennessee chapter, Americans for Prosperity, and the Beacon Center of Tennessee.

Supporters argue that putting the ban in the Constitution would protect homeowners, farmers, and businesses from a second layer of property taxation in the future.

Ballotpedia reported $109,500 in contributions supporting Amendment 2 and no reported opposition contributions in the campaign finance data it had processed.

For Moore County voters, however, the practical question on Nov. 3 is narrower than the words "property tax" might first suggest.

Amendment 2 will not change today's Moore County property tax. It asks whether Tennessee should permanently take a state property tax off the table.