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AN ACT proposing an amendment to Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky 1
relating to taxation. 2
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 3
Section 1. Are you in favor of providing the General Assembly the authority to 4
exempt all or a portion of any class of property from taxation or to eliminate all or a 5
portion of any state or local property tax and the related provisions of that tax by 6
amending the Constitution of Kentucky to read as stated below? 7
Section 2. It is proposed that Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky be 8
amended to read as follows: 9
There shall be exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes; 10
places of burial not held for private or corporate profit; real property owned and occupied 11
by, and personal property both tangible and intangible owned by, institutions of religion; 12
institutions of purely public charity, and institutions of education not used or employed 13
for gain by any person or corporation, and the income of which is devoted solely to the 14
cause of education, public libraries, their endowments, and the income of such property 15
as is used exclusively for their maintenance; household goods of a person used in his 16
home; crops grown in the year in which the assessment is made, and in the hands of the 17
producer; and real property maintained as the permanent residence of the owner, who is 18
sixty-five years of age or older, or is cl assified as totally disabled under a program 19
authorized or administered by an agency of the United States government or by any 20
retirement system either within or without the Commonwealth of Kentucky, provided the 21
property owner received disability payments pursuant to such disability classification, has 22
maintained such disability classification for the entirety of the particular taxation period, 23
and has filed with the appropriate local assessor by December 31 of the taxation period, 24
on forms provided theref or, a signed statement indicating continuing disability as 25
provided herein made under penalty of perjury, up to the assessed valuation of sixty -five 26
hundred dollars on said residence and contiguous real property, except for assessment for 27
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special benefits. The real property may be held by legal or equitable title, by the 1
entireties, jointly, in common, as a condominium, or indirectly by the stock ownership or 2
membership representing the owner's or member's proprietary interest in a corporation 3
owning a fee or a leasehold initially in excess of ninety-eight years. The exemptions shall 4
apply only to the value of the real property assessable to the owner or, in case of 5
ownership through stock or membership in a corporation, the value of the proportion 6
which his interest in the corporation bears to the assessed value of the property. The 7
General Assembly may authorize any incorporated city or town to exempt manufacturing 8
establishments from municipal taxation, for a period not exceeding five years, as an 9
inducement to their location. Notwithstanding any provision of [the provisions of 10
Sections 3, 172, and 174 of] this Constitution to the contrary, the General Assembly may, 11
through the passage of general laws, exempt all or a portion of any class of property 12
from taxation by reducing or eliminating the tax rate applicable to the class of property 13
or the value of the property assessed for taxation. The General Assembly may, through 14
the passage of general laws, eliminate all or a portion of any state or local property tax 15
and the related provisions of that tax[ provide by law an exemption for all or any portion 16
of the property tax for any class of personal property]. 17
Section 3. This amendment shall be submitted to the voters of the 18
Commonwealth for their ratification or rejection at the time and in the manner provided 19
for under Sections 256 and 257 of the Constitution, KRS 118.415, and Sections 4 and 5 20
of this Act. 21
Section 4. Notwithstanding any prov ision of KRS 118.415 to the contrary, the 22
Secretary of State shall cause the entirety of the question in Section 1 of this Act and the 23
entirety of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky contained in Section 24
2 of this Act to be published at least one time in a newspaper of general circulation 25
published in this state, and shall also cause to be published at the same time and in the 26
same manner the fact that the amendment will be submitted to the voters for their 27
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acceptance or rejection at the next regular election at which members of the General 1
Assembly are to be voted for. The publication required by this section and KRS 118.415 2
shall be made no later than the first Tuesday in August preceding the election at which 3
the amendment is to be voted on. 4
Section 5. Notwithstanding any provision of KRS 118.415 to the contrary, the 5
Secretary of State, not later than the second Monday after the second Tuesday in August 6
preceding the next regular election at which members of the General Assembly are to be 7
chosen in a year in which there is not an election for President and Vice President of the 8
United States, or not later than the Thursday after the first Tuesday in September 9
preceding a regular election in a year in which there is an election for President and Vice 10
President of the United States, shall certify the entirety of the question in Section 1 of this 11
Act and the entirety of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky 12
contained in Section 2 of this Act to the county clerk of each county, and the county clerk 13
shall have the entirety of the question and the amendment, as so certified, indicated on 14
the ballots provided to the voters in paper or electronic form as applicable to the voting 15
machines in use in each county or precinct. 16