OKPOLICY.ORG
Oklahomans are frustrated by rising housing costs, but this session, lawmakers are targeting the wrong culprit. While property taxes are drawing most of the attention at the Capitol this year, the real cost surge — homeowners’ insurance — remains largely overlooked. Lawmakers should take a closer look before rushing to cut property taxes that fund schools and services.
I was reminded of this during a recent conversation with a county official in rural Oklahoma. A senior citizen had come into the assessor’s office worried that rising property taxes might force them to sell their home.
But when the official sat down with the homeowner and reviewed their mortgage statement, the numbers told a different story.
The homeowner’s property tax bill was about $500 a year. Their homeowners’ insurance bill had climbed to more than $3,000. Because the two amounts are lumped together within the mortgage statement or escrow account, it has created confusion as to what’s behind the increase in their monthly housing payment.
That story is becoming increasingly common across Oklahoma.
Property taxes are easy to target politically. That’s why lawmakers filed more than 100 bills this legislative session to cut property tax revenue — in some cases to the tune of millions in lost revenue for cities and counties.
By comparison, only eight bills dealing with homeowners’ insurance were filed. Most have stalled or died quietly.
This lack of attention is surprising, given what’s really driving up costs for homeowners: Oklahoma now has the highest homeowners’ insurance costs in the nation, averaging about $6,133 per year, according to a recent LendingTree analysis.
That same report showed Oklahoma home insurance rates increased by more than 50% between 2019 and 2024, ranking the state 15th-highest in the nation for rate increases. Part of the problem is that property insurance rates are higher for homeowners with low credit scores, even if they own a home identical to their neighbor’s. Even more troubling, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready has said that roughly 1 in 8 homeowners in our state now goes without home insurance because it has become too expensive.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma has some of the nation’s lowest property taxes, with state law already providing built-in protections for homeowners, especially seniors and disabled veterans. Annual increases are capped for homeowners, and several programs help reduce costs for seniors, disabled veterans, and low-income residents. Together, these relief programs saved Oklahomans nearly $1.7 billion last year. And measures exist that protect senior and disabled homeowners from being evicted for nonpayment of property taxes.
Property taxes also serve an important purpose. They fund the services that keep communities strong: public schools, rural fire departments, ambulances, roads and local infrastructure.
Lawmakers are considering sharply limiting local property tax collections, which would mean those services would suffer. All the while, people receive no relief as their property insurance remains the dominant housing cost.
Before making sweeping changes to property taxes, lawmakers should be asking some key questions in their own communities:
- Have they spoken with local school leaders about what reduced revenue would mean for classrooms?
- Have they talked with firefighters and ambulance services about how funding cuts could affect response times?
- Have they asked county officials how they will maintain roads and bridges without those dollars?
- Have they spoken with bond attorneys to determine how changes in property taxes might affect schools’ and communities’ ability to pay for projects already approved by voters?
- Have lawmakers considered other factors that raise housing costs — like homeowners insurance — when seeking ways to provide fiscal relief without hurting local revenue?
Until those conversations happen, lawmakers should slow down. Big decisions about property taxes require a full understanding of their impact on local communities.
If you care about your schools, roads and emergency services, now is the time to speak up. Ask your lawmakers whether they have fully considered the consequences — and whether their focus on property taxes might be missing the bigger problem.
Oklahomans shouldn’t settle for Band-Aid solutions. If you care about your schools and your community, we need you to contact your lawmakers and advocate for comprehensive measures that protect Oklahoma families, strengthen communities and lower housing costs for everyone.
