How Many States Have a Personal Property Tax?

Roughly 36 states have a personal property tax in some form, though what that means in practice varies so much from state to state that the headline number undersells the differences. Seven states have fully eliminated the tax. Another half-dozen or so exempt most personal property but still tax narrow categories like utility infrastructure. The rest tax personal property to varying degrees, and in many of them generous exemptions mean smaller businesses and most households owe nothing.¹

States That Don’t Tax Personal Property

Seven states have fully repealed tangible personal property taxes: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.² If you live or do business in one of those seven, there is no annual rendition to file and no personal property bill to pay.

Another group broadly exempts personal property but keeps the tax alive for a few specific categories, usually centrally assessed property owned by railroads, pipelines, telecommunications companies, or utilities. Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and New Hampshire fall into this group.¹ For an ordinary small business or individual in these states, there is effectively no personal property tax; for a utility, there still is.

That leaves about 36 states where personal property tax is a real part of the landscape. Even inside that group, the rate and exemption rules are often set at the county or city level, so two businesses in the same state can face very different bills depending on where they sit.

What the Taxing States Actually Tax

Personal property tax applies to movable assets rather than land or buildings. In the states that still impose it, the tax breaks into two main pieces: business equipment and personal vehicles.

Business Equipment

Businesses in taxing states owe personal property tax on machinery, equipment, furniture, fixtures, computers, and supplies.¹ This is the broadest category and catches everything from a restaurant’s commercial oven to a dentist’s X-ray machine. Some states also tax leased equipment, so making payments on a machine rather than owning it outright doesn’t automatically keep it off the rolls.

Personal Vehicles

About 23 states impose an annual personal property tax on individually owned vehicles. Virginia, Missouri, and Connecticut are among the better-known examples. The bill is calculated from the vehicle’s current market value, not a flat registration fee. The states that charge only a flat registration or titling fee aren’t counted here, because the fee isn’t tied to what the car is worth.

Other Property

Depending on state and locality, the tax can also reach boats, aircraft, trailers, mobile homes, livestock, and farm equipment. A handful of states once taxed intangibles like stocks and bonds, but those taxes have almost entirely disappeared. Florida, for instance, repealed its general intangible personal property tax years ago, though a narrow tax on governmental leasehold interests still lives under that chapter of the code.³

Exemptions That Often Mean You Owe Nothing

Being in a taxing state doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get a bill. Several widely used exemptions pull most households and many small businesses out of the system entirely.

Household Goods

Most states exempt household furniture, clothing, appliances, and personal belongings as long as they aren’t used in a business. For the typical homeowner or renter, this is the exemption that matters: the tax overwhelmingly targets commercial and agricultural assets, not the contents of a home.

Business Inventory

Merchandise held for sale in the ordinary course of business is exempt in most taxing states. California, for example, fully exempts business inventory, including goods that will become part of a finished product destined for sale.⁴ Some states extend this through “freeport” exemptions covering finished goods warehoused for shipment out of state.

De Minimis Thresholds for Small Businesses

Twelve of the states that tax personal property also offer a de minimis exemption, which excuses a business whose total taxable personal property value falls below a set threshold. These thresholds matter because they decide whether a small business needs to deal with the tax at all. The current levels:¹

$1 million or more: Indiana (rising to $2 million for the 2026 assessment) and Montana
$250,000 to $500,000: Arizona and Idaho
$50,000 to $125,000: Rhode Island, Wyoming, Michigan, Colorado, and Texas (rising to $125,000 in 2026)
Under $50,000: Florida ($25,000), Utah ($29,300), Georgia ($20,000), and Maryland ($20,000)

Alabama increased its exemption to $100,000 effective October 2025. The threshold only saves money if the state also waives the filing requirement; if you still have to itemize and depreciate every asset to prove you’re under the cutoff, the compliance cost eats most of the benefit.

Agricultural and Charitable Property

Farm equipment and livestock receive partial or full exemptions in many agricultural states. Property used exclusively for charitable, religious, or educational purposes is also commonly exempt, though the organization usually needs a formal tax-exempt designation to claim it.

Filing Is on You

In most taxing states, you have to file an annual declaration, often called a rendition statement, listing all taxable personal property you owned on a specific assessment date. That date is usually January 1, meaning your liability for the year is set by what you owned at the start of it, regardless of whether you sell or move the property later. Most states do not prorate the tax, so equipment you owned on January 1 and moved to a non-taxing state on January 2 still generates a full year’s bill in the original jurisdiction.

Rendition deadlines range widely. Some states set them as early as January 31; others allow until May, July, or August. Missing the deadline typically means the assessor estimates your value from whatever information is available and tacks on a penalty. Mississippi, for example, adds 10 percent to the assessment for a failure to file. Other jurisdictions impose monthly penalties that can reach 25 percent of the total tax owed.

There is usually no notice telling you a return is due. If you’ve recently started a business or moved into a taxing state, you’re expected to know. The assessor’s office generally doesn’t make contact until after the deadline has already passed.

The Count Is Still Shrinking

Personal property tax has been losing ground for decades, and the pace is picking up.² Full repeal is the less common path; the usual move is incremental relief. States raise de minimis thresholds, as Indiana and Texas did for 2026, expand exemptions for specific asset classes such as manufacturing equipment, or phase in broader exemptions over several years.

For a business owner, the practical consequence is that the answer to “do I owe anything?” can change from one filing year to the next. Checking your state’s current threshold and exemption rules before each rendition is worth the few minutes it takes. The count of taxing states today is around 36, but the trend line is pointed down.

1
Tax Foundation. Tangible Personal Property De Minimis Exemptions by State, 2025
2
Tax Foundation. States Moving Away From Taxes on Tangible Personal Property
3
Cornell Law School. Florida Admin Code Ann R 12C-2.004 – Property Subject to Tax – Government Leasehold Estates and Nonrecurring
4
California State Board of Equalization. Personal Property – Frequently Asked Questions