A bill that would give Minnesota voters the chance to abolish property taxes is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday.

Sponsored by Rep. Chris DeLaForest, R-Andover, the bill would place a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot that, if approved by voters, would eliminate all property taxes in Minnesota.

Here’s the pitch DeLaForest made for his bill in a press release today:

“The Legislature has been nibbling around the edges of the property tax problem for many years,” said DeLaForest. “It is time to be bold and to confront this problem head on.”

Rep. DeLaForest explained doing this would require some very fundamental questions be asked. Is property tax the best way to collect money? Or are there better ways? DeLaForest pointed to hundreds of emails he has received during his time in the Legislature from people who earn low incomes, or those who are on fixed incomes. Property taxes are a hold over from an agrarian society, he explained, which we no longer live in.

“Our society is rapidly aging. Retirees are often reliant on a fixed income,” DeLaForest stated. “It is very frustrating for them to have to pay higher property taxes when their income is not increasing.”

In 1971, the Legislature and then-Gov. Wendell Anderson enacted a massive overhaul of the property tax and the state’s revenue structure — an initiative that became known as the Minnesota Miracle.

If DeLaForest’s bill passes, it not only would be a more sweeping change than the Minnesota Miracle, but it would be a true miracle indeed. Legislators will have a tough enough time plugging their own $935 million budget deficit, let alone creating a permanent $5 billion-plus gap in funding for local governments throughout the state.

Still, like winning the lottery, it’s fun to dream about.

Here’s the full text of the bill, H.F. 3632.

It will be given a hearing Wednesday in the House Taxes Committee at 10 a.m. in Room 10, State Office Building.