Nevada Lawmakers Know How To Fix Property Taxes — They Just Lack The Political Will, Senator Says - CRBC News
Nevada Lawmakers Know How To Fix Property Taxes — They Just Lack The Political Will, Senator Says - CRBC News # Nevada Lawmakers Know How To Fix Property Taxes — They Just Lack The Political Will, Senator Says Wyatt Fischer| The Cool Down 14h ago• 3 min read 0 Save Sen.
crbcnews.com · September 5, 2026
Nevada Lawmakers Know How To Fix Property Taxes — They Just Lack The Political Will, Senator Says - CRBC News
# Nevada Lawmakers Know How To Fix Property Taxes — They Just Lack The Political Will, Senator Says
Wyatt Fischer| The Cool Down
14h ago• 3 min read 0 Save
Sen. Dina Neal says Nevada already has studied options to repair its property tax system — what’s missing is political will. A 2005 law caps annual increases at 3% for owner-occupied homes and 8% for other properties, a rule that legislative analysts say has left roughly $18.6 billion abated since 2007 and strained local budgets. Proposals include changing the cap, creating a separate tax outside the abatement system, or resetting taxable values at sale, but each faces strong political opposition.
Sen. Dina Neal says Nevada already has studied options to repair its property tax system — what’s missing is political will. A 2005 law caps annual increases at 3% for owner-occupied homes and 8% for other properties, a rule that legislative analysts say has left roughly $18.6 billion abated since 2007 and strained local budgets. Proposals include changing the cap, creating a separate tax outside the abatement system, or resetting taxable values at sale, but each faces strong political opposition.
State Sen. Dina Neal, a North Las Vegas Democrat who chairs the interim revenue committee, told lawmakers they already have studied options to reform Nevada's property tax system — but lack the political will to act. Neal urged officials to stop commissioning more studies and instead choose a path forward.
> “We should not spend another hot dime, or six pennies, on another property tax study,” Neal said. “Because we know what the answer is. We just don't politically want to do any of these solutions.”
## What The Current System Does
A 2005 law caps annual property-tax-bill increases at 3% for owner-occupied homes and 8% for other properties. The cap was designed to protect homeowners during periods of rapid value growth, but it also constrains revenue growth for local governments as costs rise.
## The Fiscal Impact
Legislative Counsel Bureau fiscal analyst Michael Nakamoto told lawmakers that staff estimate roughly $18.6 billion in property tax revenue has been held under abatement since 2007 — revenue that otherwise would fund schools, libraries, parks, firefighters and law enforcement.
Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson reported that over five years his city's costs climbed by 54% while revenue grew only 16%. “I challenge any of you to run any kind of government or business with those kinds of numbers,” he said.
## Concrete Example
Nakamoto projected that his own Reno home's 2029 bill would be $1,873 under the current cap with another $1,711 abated. He estimated that raising the residential cap from 3% to 8% would still keep that illustrative bill under $2,000.
## Proposed Fixes
- Raise or change the 3% residential cap so bills better track costs and values. - Create a separate property tax outside the partial-abatement system that jurisdictions could use to collect additional revenue. - Reset a property’s taxable base at sale (a proposal backed by Assemblymember Natha Anderson that could require a constitutional amendment and would align new owners’ bills more closely with market value).
## Political Roadblocks
None of the proposals has a clear political path. Prior reform efforts faced strong opposition from developers and anti-tax groups. Local governments and progressive advocates counter that Nevada leans too heavily on sales taxes and underfunds essential public services. As Andrew Clarke of the Nevada Revenue Coalition put it, the debate is “at its heart about who pays and in turn what is being provided.”
## Why It Matters
The debate is a local example of a national conversation about housing affordability, tax fairness and the tradeoffs between protecting long-term homeowners and funding public services for growing communities. Nevada lawmakers must decide whether to act on known options or continue postponing reform.