Center Square

Southwestern states ranked among the lowest in the U.S. for property tax rates in a new report, giving homeowners some relief amid widespread housing affordability issues.
And the state with the best tax rate, according to the report?
Hawaii.
The report by WalletHub ranked all 50 states and Washington, D.C., by real estate and vehicle property tax rates. The findings provide cost-of-living information for potential inter-state movers.
“Every penny counts,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo told The Center Square. “If you’re looking at relocating, it’s a good idea to not just focus on the home price, but take a look at how much your property taxes are going to be, because that’s going to be part of the overall mortgage bill for the next 30 years of your life.”
In 2026, Hawaii had the lowest effective real-estate tax rate (0.27%), according to the WalletHub report. But with the highest median home value of any state ($839,100), the median annual property tax payment ($2,239) was not far off of the national average of $3,119.
The second-lowest property tax is in Alabama (0.38%), where below-average home values ($209,900) make the average person’s annual real-estate property taxes the lowest in the U.S. at $788.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, New Jersey (2.11%) and Illinois (2.01%) were the only states with property tax rates above 2%. These highest taxed states resulted in well-above-average annual property taxes for residents of $9,590 in New Jersey and $5,298 in Illinois.
“Taxes are always a hot button issue nationwide, regardless of what state you live in,” said Lupo. “You can view them either as just a minor irritant, or in some cases, depending where you live, a significant financial burden.”
Nevada (ranked third, 0.47%) has the lowest real-estate property tax rate of Southwestern states the continental U.S., followed by Arizona (fourth, 0.48%), Colorado (fourth, 0.48%), Utah (10, 0.52%), New Mexico (17th, 0.7%) and California (17th, 0.7%).
All of the Southwestern states were in the lower-half of tax rates, despite above-average home values.
“There’s hot real estate markets in these states too. The prices of homes are skyrocketing,” said Lupo. “For example, Colorado – Denver is a hot real estate market. A lot of people are getting priced out, with the average house price of a little over $539,000. It’s the same thing in Utah ($489,000), Idaho ($418,000), Nevada ($435,000), Arizona ($395,000).
“You have these hot real estate markets, but they’ve been traditionally low tax,” Lupo added. “So yes, you’re going to be shelling out probably some inflated prices for homes, but you have the benefit of a somewhat lower tax rate to offset that.”
Results were more mixed for property taxes on vehicles in the Southwest. Nevada (44th, 2.12%), Colorado (39th, 1.79%) and Arizona (38th, 1.68%) were among the most taxed states. California (28th, 0.65%) was beat out in the Southwest only by New Mexico and Utah, which joined the 22 other states and D.C. in not adding taxes to vehicles.
“About half the states will tax you property taxes on your vehicle,” said Lupo. “That can be a burden, particularly if you have multiple vehicles.”
Virginia (3.97%) had the highest vehicle property tax rate in the country. The average car owner there paid $1,156. The survey found the average vehicle property tax rate by comparing the nation’s most popular car in 2025, the $29,100 Toyota Camry.

Officials in the Trump administration are calling widespread welfare fraud in Minnesota the largest fraud scheme in the nation’s history.
The claim was made during an interview by Stephen Miller, who serves as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.
“We believe that the Somali fraud operation in Minnesota is the single-greatest theft of taxpayer dollars through welfare fraud in American history,” Miller said.
He added that investigators have “only scratched the very top of the surface.”
Independent and federal investigations are ongoing after billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded fraud schemes were revealed over the past few months, as extensively reported on by The Center Square, with claims the fraud could range from $9 billion to $20 billion in Minnesota alone.
According to Miller, those fraudulent practices included falsely claiming children had autism to obtain benefits, enrolling individuals in food assistance programs who were never eligible or enrolled, and “engaging in massive fraud, lying, theft, and grift on a scale we’ve never seen before in American history.”
“We believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people,” Miller said.
Miller said the total financial impact will likely exceed previously reported figures, stating that federal records show that 75% of the Somali population in Minnesota is on welfare and is likely an “undercount” of their true “financial burden.”
“The total tab for this is going to be far beyond the numbers we’ve already seen reported,” he said, also pointing some blame at the Democrat-run state government in Minnesota. “We believe the state government is fully complicit in this scheme.”
This is part of ongoing concerns from Republicans both on fraud in Minnesota and the use of taxpayer-funded welfare programs by immigrants – both legal and illegal.
A recent study by KFF, a nonprofit organization focused on health policy research, found that federal policy changes are having a real impact on participation in public assistance programs by immigrants.
It reported that 36% of immigrants without legal status reported stopping participation in welfare programs, while 42% said they avoided applying. The study also found 11% of legal immigrants reported leaving a public assistance program.
Republicans have been consistently labeling the Minnesota fraud “one of the biggest fraud schemes in American history,” even connecting the fraud investigations and the widespread riots in the Twin Cities, which first broke out over the seemingly unconnected enhanced enforcement of federal immigration law by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“Minnesota is a criminal cover up of the massive financial fraud that has gone on,” Prescient Donald Trump said in January.
Since the fraud story first broke a few months ago, many arrests have been made and federal investigations remain ongoing. Congress has also turned its attention to the issue, probing everything from welfare fraud to the financials of Somalia-born U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota.
In January, the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held a hearing on the Minnesota fraud scandal investigation.
During that hearing, both Democrats and Republicans acknowledged that fraud is widespread throughout government welfare programs. Yet, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that the federal fraud investigations in Minnesota were just a “pretext” for the surge federal agents to the Twin Cities.
“Fraud is not headquartered in one state, for one municipality, much less one ethnic, racial or religious community,” Raskin said. “But, President Trump couldn’t resist the temptation to use fraud in Minnesota as an occasion to mobilize the power of the federal government to bully and intimidate first and second generation Somali Americans who live in that state.”

A Shelby Township man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in a multi-million-dollar pandemic relief fraud scheme, federal officials announced.
Samer Kammo, 46, was sentenced in Detroit by U.S. District Judge Jonathan J. C. Grey after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in connection with the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
Kammo and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications for multiple businesses, falsifying payroll figures and certifying the funds would be used for legitimate business purposes.
Federal investigators said the group also submitted fictitious payroll, health insurance, banking and tax records to support the applications.
Kammo and members of his family received nearly $2.5 million in fraudulent PPP funds. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
“This defendant and his co-conspirators tried to cheat the system by exploiting a federal relief program meant to help Americans in need,” said Jennifer Runyan, the FBI special agent in charge of the case. “If you abuse government programs for personal gain, you will be found, and you will face serious consequences under the law.”
Jared Murphey, the HSI acting special agent in charge, said investigators remain committed to pursuing pandemic-era fraud.
“Although the pandemic is years behind us, HSI and our partners are committed to holding fraudsters accountable,” Murphey said. “By now the writing on the wall should be crystal clear, if you fraudulently obtained government funds during the pandemic, you will be held accountable.”
Court records show the conspirators used the personal identifying information of several of Kammo’s relatives, including his mother, to carry out the scheme.
As part of his sentence, Kammo was ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution. Co-defendant Rita Shaba previously received a 27-month prison sentence, while Kammo’s wife, Christina Anasi, awaits sentencing.
This is just one of many such cases of PPP and other COVID-19 era fraud that uncovered throughout the U.S. The fraud has largely been centered around several emergency relief programs in 2020 established by Congress to stabilize the economy in the midst of the pandemic.
Just in the PPP program, Congress authorized more than $800 billion through multiple rounds of funding – making it one of the largest small-business aid efforts in U.S. history.
Just in Michigan, there have been numerous cases uncovered, including:
• The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency paid about $11 billion in fraudulent claims from the start of COVID through 2022
• Macomb woman sentenced in January for her role in $3 million COVID PPP fraud scheme
• Michigan man sentenced in 2022 for approximately $230,000 in fraudulent COVID unemployment payments
• Ten people from Michigan sentenced in 2024 in a $4.9 million COVID unemployment scheme

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has filed a bill to give the pride flag the same legal standing as the U.S. flag and military banners.
The proposal, which faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress, comes in response to a simmering dispute over the Trump administration’s decision to remove an LGBTQ pride flag from Stonewall National Monument in New York City.
Schumer said Stonewall is “sacred ground and Congress must act now to permanently protect the Pride flag and what it stands for” by granting federal protections that would allow it to be flown outside government buildings, and National Park sites.
“Trump’s hateful crusade must end,” Schumer said in a statement. “The very core of American identity is liberty and justice for all – and that is what this legislation would protect: each national park’s ability to make their own decision about what flag can be flown.”
The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village is considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. In 1969, a police raid at the gay bar sparked protests and skirmishes between rioters and police. Then-President Barack Obama designated the monument in 2016 during his second term.
The Interior Department quietly removed the flag about two weeks ago, citing a 2023 federal directive restricting the kinds of flags that can be flown on National Park sites. The department said only U.S. flags, historical flags, military flags, or flags of federally recognized Tribal nations can fly within the parks.
“Flagpoles at buildings under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of DOI are also not intended to serve as a forum for free expression by the public,” the agency said in a memo.
But Schumer and other New York Democrats accused the federal agency of trying “erase history” and gathered with LGBTQ activists at the monument on Thursday where they “re-raised” the rainbow flag.
While Trump hasn’t personally targeted the Stonewall monument in his public statements, critics say the flag removal is the latest example of the Trump administration’s efforts to purge federal institutions and landmarks of materials that conflict with the president’s political agenda.
Last year, the park service removed references to transgender and queer people on its web page for the Stonewall monument, drawing outrage from LGBTQ groups.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who joined other Democrats in re-raising the flag last week, is among those who support Schumer’s proposal. He said the legislation “protects our legacy, our dignity, and the generations who will look to Stonewall as proof that progress, once won, must be defended.”
“Authorizing the Pride flag in federal law is about more than symbolism, it’s about permanence,” he said in a statement. “It sends a clear message that LGBTQ+ history is not subject to political whims and that our visibility cannot be stripped away. Civil rights landmarks should not be vulnerable to shifting administrations.”

Americans are picking up the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Trump boosted import duties in 2025 to the highest level in more than a century, hitting every U.S. trading partner with tariffs of at least 10%. The U.S. president said foreign businesses and countries would bear the cost of those tariffs.
So far, research has shown the opposite.
“U.S. firms and consumers continue to bear the bulk of the economic burden of the high tariffs imposed in 2025,” according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
However, those figures changed throughout 2025, with declines toward the end of the year.
“Our results imply that U.S. import prices for goods subject to the average tariff increased by 11% more than those for goods not subject to tariffs,” the authors wrote. “These higher import prices caused firms to reorganize supply chains.”
Other studies have reported similar findings on the impact of the tariffs.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy found that Americans are paying almost the entire cost of tariffs. A December 2025 study from Duke’s Department of Economics found that during the 2019–21 trade dispute, consumers ultimately paid more than the tariff cost on European wines. The upshot was that Americans paid higher costs than the federal government collected in tariff revenue.
Goldman Sachs economists projected in October that American consumers will pay 55% of the tariff costs, U.S. businesses will pay 22% and foreign exporters will pay 18%.
Peter Navarro, a top trade adviser to Trump, has said it is about bargaining power: “In real markets, the burden falls on whoever can’t afford to lose access to the U.S. consumer.”
The White House has said foreign exporters who depend on access to the American economy will ultimately pay the cost of the tariffs.
Trump has made tariffs a central part of his economic agenda during his second term. In April 2025, Trump imposed import taxes of at least 10% on every U.S. trading partner. Since then, the president has suspended, changed, increased, decreased, and reimposed tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
A group of states and small businesses challenged Trump’s tariffs under the 1977 law, winning in two lower courts before the administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, instrumental in civil rights advocacy after the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King, has died at his Chicago home.
He was 84.
His death Tuesday morning was confirmed by his daughter Santita Jackson. Praise and acclaim poured in, noting his courage and bravery in a time of unrest in the South.
“Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” said a statement from his family.
Born in South Carolina and educated at North Carolina A&T just after four freshmen protested segregation at the “whites only” lunch counter of Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro, Jackson was renowned beyond the United States. His relationships extended from everyday people he met on his crusades to powerful business leaders and those chosen to lead foreign nations.
The oratorical skills of the Baptist minister coupled with the continued passion and compassion of King energized millions. It led to runs for president as a Democrat in 1984 and 1988; he was third behind Walter Mondale and Gary Hart in the primary for the former, and second to Michael Dukakis for the latter.
“He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit and ‘street smarts,’” said second-term Republican President Donald Trump. “Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him.
“He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!”
Rahm Emanuel, former may of Chicago, said Jackson “challenged all of us and he made us better.” U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Jackson a “voice for the voiceless.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Jackson’s dedication was relentless.
Others said the effort he made to become the first Black president in the 1980s was pivotal for Barack Obama in 2008. His first bid was thwarted in part when it became known Jackson used an antisemitic slur about Jews in New York.
Operation PUSH, based in Chicago, and the National Rainbow Coalition were two organizations he founded. Former President Bill Clinton tapped him as a special envoy to Africa, and Jackson is credited with helping facilitate release of Americans in Syria, Cuba, Iraq and Serbia.
Rev. Al Sharpton said Jackson “was a movement unto himself.”
Jackson’s signature words from a poem included, “I am Somebody. I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young, but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody.”
Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2017. He had 24-hour care in his final months.
Greenville, S.C., is where Jackson was born on Oct. 8, 1941. His exploits as a quarterback at Sterling High took him on scholarship to the University of Illinois. Told a Black couldn’t play the position, he transferred to North Carolina A&T and started at quarterback.
His academics included honors in sociology, economics and president of the student body. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1968. He studied at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Jackson marched with King from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, the 54-mile trip to the Alabama capitol inclusive of the bloody conflict with state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The incident is given significant credit for creating unity nationwide in the push to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
King, Jackson said, died in his arms on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tenn.
Jackson’s five children with his wife, Jacqueline, included Jesse Jackson Jr., a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition to his wife, Jesse Jr. and Santita, he is survived by sons Jonathan, Yusef and Jacqueline Jr.
A sixth child, Ashley Jackson, is the daughter born in 1999 to he and Karen Stanford. Stanford had worked in his civil rights groups.

As Operation Metro Surge is expected to wind down in the coming week, the City of Minneapolis is seeking financial assistance from the federal government to address mounting impacts.
A Preliminary Impact Assessment & Relief Needs Overview released Friday outlined damage data and identified ongoing needs that city officials say require federal support.
Minneapolis Emergency Management Director Rachel Sayre said the city cannot meet those needs alone.
“We need significant funding assistance to meet the urgent needs of our community,” Sayre said. “This surge has been devastating to so many of our friends and neighbors. It is our collective duty to take care of them as a Welcoming City.”
According to city officials, the city reported a $203.1 million hit on the local economy in January alone. That includes $47 million was lost in wages, $81 million was lost in revenue to restaurants and small businesses, and another $4.7 million lost in hotel cancellations.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described the damage as “staggering” during a Friday press conference.
“It begs the question: Was it worth it? Was the chaos worth it? Was the fear worth it?” Frey said. “Certainly, this operation did not improve safety, and it indeed decimated trust.”
In addition to the impact to the local economy, Minneapolis taxpayers will also foot a hefty bill for additional city resources that were used in January.
According to the report, more than $6 million was spent on city staff payroll, police overtime, and operational expenses last month alone. That amount could increase, according to the city, depending on how long it takes federal agents to leave.
All of this comes following White House border czar Tom Homan’s Thursday announcement that the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota will end this week.
Homan’s announcement comes more than two months after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities as part of Operation Metro Surge. More than 4,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested as part of it.
Homan said agents successfully apprehended a number of targets throughout Minnesota, who included murderers, sex offenders, national security threats, and gang members.
“We have obtained an unprecedented level of coordination with law enforcement officials that is focused on promoting public safety across the entire state,” he said. “President Trump and I want to thank the men and women of ICE and CBP and partner agencies who have been assigned here during Operation Metro surge, you achieved a great success for the Minnesota communities.”
Yet, since federal agents were sent to the state, the Twin Cities have faced nearly constant public protests. The protests were heightened by the January deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both of whom were shot by federal agents.
Democrats have called for the operation to end since it began, citing reported economic impacts, fear within the migrant community and ongoing protests and riots.
“Families were torn apart, small businesses lost millions and students had their learning disrupted. That impact is real,” Frey said.
Republicans and the Trump administration have applauded the operation as necessary to address illegal immigrants living in Minnesota — especially criminals.
In addition to the economic impact, the report said that an additional $15.7 million is needed for rental assistance due to lost household income, $2.4 million in additional weekly food support, and 50% less client contact with mental health resources because of clients “going underground” for fear of deportation.
The city said it will try to avoid an increase in property taxes, but warns that it is facing a “significant financial challenge.”
“The city is mindful of keeping spending sustainable in order to maintain sound financial footing,” it said in a press release on Friday. “That task is more difficult as economic activity in the city declines while city expenses increase in response to this crisis. The assessment underscores an urgent need for financial assistance from the federal government.”

Ongoing smuggling operations continue at the U.S.-Canada border. After alleged offenders are arrested and charged by federal immigration officers, they are being indicted and prosecuted, with recent announcement occurring in Vermont and upstate New York.
Ongoing border crimes are being committed in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Swanton Sector, which reported a record number of illegal border crossers during the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported. The sector includes all of Vermont, six upstate New York counties, and three New Hampshire counties.
Under the Trump administration, Border Patrol agents continue to arrest Mexican smugglers operating in Canada, Iranians, weapons smugglers and human smugglers using an Indian reservation. In recent years, the greatest number of illegal border crossings reported at the U.S.-Canada border were in upstate New York, Washington and Vermont, The Center Square reported.
In Vermont, an indictment was unsealed charging two men, Francisco Antonio Luna Rosado, 27, a Dominican national in the country illegally, and Jesus Hernandez Ortiz, 37, a Puerto Rican, with conspiring to smuggle foreign nationals from Mexico and Central and South America into the U.S. from Canada for profit. Luna Rosado was also charged with money laundering involving property derived from smuggling activities.
The smuggling operation involved flying foreign nationals to Canada then guiding them with GPS coordinates on cell phones through a remote area of Canada into northern Vermont, authorities allege. From there, Luna Rosado used a 70-person encrypted chat platform to communicate arranging drivers to pick up illegal border crossers, authorities allege. The drivers then transported them in rented Home Depot vans driving them a few hours from Vermont to New York City, according to the charges.
Swanton Sector Border Patrol Intelligence Unit agents working out of the Newport station and with Homeland Security Investigations officers led the investigation. HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force also assisted with the case. It’s being prosecuted in the District of Vermont.
In another case, a grand jury in the Northern District of New York indicted an Indian national, Shivam Lnu, 22, on human smuggling charges accusing him of smuggling Indian nationals from Canada into upstate New York in Clinton County. Both Lnu and those being smuggled were all in the country illegally, according to the charges.
Lnu was arrested after Border Patrol agents attempted to stop two vehicles traveling in tandem near the U.S-Canada border but the drivers accelerated and led a high-speed pursuit instead, authorities said. One driver lost control and the vehicle went off the road; the other was later stopped in Mooers, New York.
The drivers were transporting 12 Indians who’d used WhatsApp messages to coordinate logistics, according to the charges. Lnu was involved in numerous smuggling operations, according to messages reviewed by agents, according to the charges. Texts also included “proof of life photographs and directions to safe houses in upstate New York,” agents allege.
HSI Rouses Point and Border Patrol Burke station agents led the investigation, which is being prosecuted in the Northern District of New York. HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force also assisted with the case.
The arrest comes after a record number of Indian nationals, several hundred thousand, illegally entered the U.S. from Canada under the Biden and Trudeau administrations, The Center Square reported.