The Oklahoma Supreme Court has blocked an initiative petition that would phase out property taxes on homesteads, ruling that the proposal conflicts with the state Constitution.
The 5–4 decision prevents State Question 843 from proceeding to signature collection under the court’s order.
The proposal would change state law to eliminate homestead property taxes over three years, with a full exemption by 2029. Its supporters include Representative Jay Steagall, Senator Shane Jett and former Representative Mike Reynolds.
The majority said the proposal conflicts with a constitutional requirement that real property be assessed for taxation at between 11% and 13.5% of its fair cash value. The court reasoned that fully exempting homesteads would effectively reduce their assessed value for taxation to zero.
Because the petition proposed changing a statute rather than the Constitution, the majority said it could not override that requirement.
Supporters argued that the Constitution allows expanded homestead exemptions and that doubts should be resolved in favor of allowing the petition to proceed. The court rejected their position and granted the citizens’ challenge.
The dissenting opinions focused largely on whether the court should decide a proposal’s constitutionality before voters have considered it.
Chief Justice Dustin Rowe argued that blocking petitions before an election diminishes the people’s power to propose laws. Other dissenters said constitutional challenges should generally wait until a proposal has collected sufficient signatures, reached the ballot and become law.
The decision concerns the homestead tax proposal, rather than eliminating every category of property tax. It leaves existing property tax requirements unchanged.
