Vermont Ways & Means reviews tax department plan to implement Act 73's new property-tax classes

Jake Bellman, a tax department official, told the House Ways & Means Committee on Jan. 3 that Act 73 creates a new "nonhomestead residential" property class aimed at second homes and short-term rentals and laid out the administrative work required to make the law operational by fiscal 2029.

The report and presentation summarized how Act 73 changes Vermont's two-class system (homestead and nonhomestead) by adding the new class and moving to a statewide rate structure in which class-specific multipliers would be applied to a statewide base rate. "A new classification was introduced in act 73," Bellman said, and "rates are going to be uniform statewide," while the General Assembly could set multipliers annually.

Why it matters: the shift will change which property owners pay more, and will require extensive new data and municipal work. Bellman estimated the tax department will need to process "about a 173,000 homesteads" and "tens of thousands more" dwelling-use…