A majority said yes. The survey never said what counts as a second home or asked whether respondents own one, a camp or a rental.

by Compass Vermont

A new poll commissioned by Vermont Public asked Vermonters one question about second homes: “Should Vermont impose a new yearly tax on second homes?” Fifty-seven percent said yes, 28% said no and 15% weren’t sure.

The question didn’t say what counts as a second home, and the survey didn’t ask whether respondents own one. Both gaps matter, because “second home” can mean very different properties:

• A vacation house used a few weekends a year
• An inherited family camp
• A separate house rented out on Airbnb
• A house a landlord rents to a Vermont family

Any of those could come to mind when someone hears “second home,” and Vermont’s planned tax framework would not treat them all the same way. A person could back a tax on a vacation house that sits empty most of the year and oppose one on an inherited camp or a house rented to a local family. A yes-or-no answer can’t tell those positions apart.

It’s polling season, and this is a clear case of how much a single question can leave unsaid.

At the bottom: how to make sure your home is filed as your primary residence before the Oct. 15 deadline, and where to find your town’s two education tax rates.

What counts as a second home

Vermont has already written rules for sorting these properties. Act 170 of 2026, which Gov. Phil Scott signed June 18, sorts them by how each property is used. It doesn’t matter how many properties you own or where you live.

The state tax commissioner decides what counts as fit for year-round living. Mobile homes and licensed inns and lodges are left out of the second-home category.

A poll respondent picturing a seasonal camp and one picturing an Airbnb may both have said yes. They could have had different properties in mind.

Who said yes

The survey didn’t ask whether respondents own a second home, a camp or a rental property. It didn’t ask whether they rent or own the home they live in, either. The closest question asked whether they had fallen behind on rent or mortgage payments in the past year.

So the poll can’t compare people who might get a bigger tax bill with people who wouldn’t. It’s just as wrong to assume supporters are voting to tax somebody else as it is to assume owners said no. The survey doesn’t show either.

None of that makes the 57% wrong. Vermonters who don’t own a second home have a real stake in tax and housing policy, and their views belong in a poll of Vermonters. The gap limits what the number can tell us, not whether it counts.

Vermont Public published its full questionnaire and methodology, which is what makes it possible to see what was and wasn’t asked.

What second homes already pay

The question asked about a “new” tax. Second homes aren’t untaxed today. They already pay education property tax, and the Tax Department sorts taxable property into two groups:

In most towns, second homes already pay the higher rate. In this year’s state rate table, the nonhomestead rate is higher than the homestead rate in 178 of the 249 towns with both rates posted, and lower in 71. The income credit adds to that gap: it can lower the bill on a primary home, and it never applies to a second home.

Short stays also carry their own taxes, paid by guests rather than owners: a 9% rooms tax, a 3% short-term rental surcharge and, in some towns, a 1% local tax.

The real debate, then, is whether second homes should pay more than they do now, and how much more.

What’s still undecided

The Legislature has created a separate tax category for second homes and short-term rentals, but it hasn’t set a rate. Act 73 of 2025 created the category, as Compass reported in August, and Act 170 rewrote it. The new rules are set to take effect July 1, 2029, but only if lawmakers first finish major pieces of the school overhaul, including a new school funding formula. If they haven’t created a rate for the category by that date, it’s repealed. Owners would start telling the state how they use each property on new forms in 2028.

Three things a poll respondent couldn’t know are still open:

• How much. The Tax Department has modeled second-home rates between $1.60 and $2.00 per $100 of value. At the top of that range, a $500,000 second home would pay about $3,050 a year more than the model’s fiscal 2025 starting rate of about $1.39, assuming the home’s value stays the same. That figure is a model, not a bill.
• How it would be carried out. Towns and the state would first have to identify every dwelling and sort it into the right category. As Compass reported in August, the Tax Department told lawmakers that count doesn’t exist yet.
• What the money pays for. Candidates have tied second-home revenue to housing and universal primary care. The Tax Department’s first set of rate scenarios was built to cover the cost of a planned tax break for year-round homeowners. The same dollars can’t pay for all of those.

Setting a rate would require further legislation.

A second poll, a similar answer

The University of New Hampshire’s Green Mountain State Poll, released Sept. 24, found 78% support. UNH told respondents that some states and municipalities already tax properties that aren’t the owner’s primary residence, a definition broad enough to include houses rented to year-round tenants. It also offered answers ranging from strongly to somewhat support or oppose. Its published results don’t break support out by ownership either.

What “yes” tells us

Both polls show that most Vermonters like the idea of a second-home tax. That part isn’t in question. What a yes can’t tell us is which property the respondent pictured, what rate they would accept, or whether the bill would land on them. Those are the choices lawmakers would actually face.

CHECK YOUR OWN HOME

Is your home filed as your primary residence? If you own and live in your home in Vermont, you must file a Homestead Declaration (Form HS-122) every year. It was due April 15, but the state accepts it for this year until Oct. 15, 2026. If you don’t file by then, your home is classified as nonhomestead, the category second homes and rentals fall in, and you pay the higher of your town’s two rates and may owe penalties and interest. As Compass reported in August, Vermont receives about 173,000 homestead declarations a year, while the Census counts closer to 200,000 owner-occupied homes. Filing instructions are on the Tax Department’s Homestead Declaration page.

What you need: your Social Security number and the 11-digit School Property Account Number (SPAN) from your property tax bill, along with the other information the form asks for.

Your town’s two rates: the Tax Department posts each town’s homestead and nonhomestead education tax rates on its education property tax rates page.