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Property Tax Assessment Reform: A Source of Local Revenue Windfall or Fiscal Retrenchment
Author(s) -
Pillai Vel
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1987.tb01974.x
Subject(s) - property tax , retrenchment , tax reform , economics , ad valorem tax , revenue , public economics , local government , indirect tax , value added tax , economic policy , business , finance , political science , law , public administration
A bstract . Researchers, state officials and taxpayers have often speculated that property tax assessment reform would lead to an increase in the overall tax burden. They contend that, given the large non‐discretionary increase in the tax base during the reform, local governments can raise more resources without increasing the nominal tax rate. An empirical analysis of 74 towns in New York supports that position. However, two types of tax shifts that occurred in the wake of reassessment —interclass shifts of tax burden to the owners of residential propertieskovn the other property classes and intra‐class shifts observed among residential property owners—have caused significant moderation in this pattern of local government behavior. Therefore, tax reform, while it bestows revenue windfalls upon some local governments, may require fiscal retrenchment by others.