Tennessee Leads the Nation in Property Tax Hikes

Tennessee has built one of America’s most competitive tax climates by rejecting an individual income tax and maintaining the nation’s third lowest average state and local tax burden. However, when it comes to property taxes, Tennessee is the opposite of exemplary.  

In fact, according to analysis recently published by Jason Edmonds at the Beacon Center of Tennessee, no state has seen average property tax payments rise faster over the past six years than Tennessee. While property tax bills rose in every state except for Texas, Tennessee led the nation with a 75 percent increase in the average property tax payments from 2019 to 2025.   

While large property tax hikes in Nashville have received a good deal of media coverage, Edmonds notes that even smaller Tennessee towns have been raising property taxes significantly. Mt. Juliet approved a 164% increase and Fairview, 42%; while Nashville homeowners have subsequently been subject to a 60% increase in their bills. 

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson are pushing for a special session this fall to specifically address the rising property tax bills. Earlier this year, lawmakers considered HB 1873/SB 2064, which would limit annual growth in property tax collection to the rate of inflation plus 2%. That proposal never received a floor vote.  

Tennessee has a huge problem, and lawmakers know it. While state lawmakers have established one of the nation’s most competitive and least burdensome state tax codes, local officials are counteracting the benefits of conservative governance at the state level by ratcheting up property tax bills at the local level. If Gov. Bill Lee were to call lawmakers back to Nashville for a special session later this year, property tax limitation is certainly the best reason to do so.