Property Tax Relief Up Next For House Republicans

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/08/2025) It's been a whopping 47 years since the Michigan Legislature has seriously tackled property tax relief and another 31 years since it took another look at the Headlee Amendment and Proposal A.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said on the Overtime segment of Off The Record Friday that addressing high property taxes will be the "next issue that I think is going to dominate this town."

"How do we do property taxes and the potential of putting that on the next ballot if we can't do it all legislatively?” Hall asked with an eye toward addressing how "we can make property taxes more affordable."

The revelation came at the end Off the Record when host Tim Skubick was running through some yes-and-no questions.

"Do you support abolishing the property tax?" asked Skubick, a nod toward the AxMiTax.org ballot proposal that seeks to eliminate property taxes.

"No," Hall answered.

After the yes-and-no questions were over, Hall quickly went back to the subject by saying he's having "great conversations" with ultra conservative anti-tax lawmakers Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) and Rep. James DeSana (R-Carleton) on the subject.

"I think they are right," Hall said. "We need to do something about property taxes whether that is with a legislative vote or attempts to put something on the ballot."

Then he tacked on the other two issues.

"We need to properly fund education and local governments. That's why you can't get rid of the property tax," he explained. He's not ready to endorse any elements of the three-pronged effort, but offers after the budget is finished, "our next focus is how do we tackle this issue and at that time I'll have a good read on whether we can pull that together for this election (in 2026). We're definitely considering it."

One element he wants to visit is the so-called "Pop-up Tax" when a home goes on the market. He wants to prevent, "some of these large increases in property taxes" that new homeowners face after the current owners enjoyed years of property tax relief under the Headlee program.

"Headlee was good at restricting growth of government," he said, but Florida has wiped out the equivalent of the pop-up tax in their state. Hall also suggested a "reduced rate" for senior citizens, but didn't get into specifics on that.