Property Tax

Menards

Big-Box Retailers Say Property Assessments Are Too High; Communities Suffer the Consequences

"Dark store theory" argues that nearby depreciated properties should figure into property valuations. The resulting property tax cuts mean local municipalities end up taking a huge hit.

November 26, 2018 - CityLab

Southern California Coast

California’s Inheritance Tax Break Is Helping Some Much More Than Others

An inheritance tax benefit, along with Proposition 13, has resulted in lower tax rates passing down through generations and billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

August 30, 2018 - Los Angeles Times

Forest Park Southeast

Mapping Tax Abatements to Mitigate Controversy

St. Louis politicians are embroiled in controversy over the city's use of tax abatements, which come at the expense of funding for the city's school district. A map is seen as part of the solution.

August 13, 2018 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Echo Park

$300 Million Property Tax to Fund Stormwater Infrastructure on the Ballot in Los Angeles County

The proposed property tax would double the county's stormwater capture capacity.

July 21, 2018 - LAist

Home For Sale Signs

California Realtors Hope Ballot Initiative Will Put More Homes on Market

A ballot measure to enable older homeowners in California, particularly empty nesters, to downsize without losing their tax benefits granted to them by the 1978 Proposition 13, has qualified for the November ballot.

June 22, 2018 - Los Angeles Times

Stormwater Infrastructure

No Opposition to California Proposition Promoting Stormwater Capture

Voters looking for a reason to vote against Prop 72, which provides a tax break for homeowners who install rainwater capture systems, won't find one. None were submitted. Proponents of measures for parks, climate, and transportation are not so lucky.

May 22, 2018 - KQED Science

Texas Townhomes

California Bill Seeks to Facilitate 'Missing Middle' Housing

Affordable housing developers are increasingly asked to build middle-income units, but can't afford to do so.

April 10, 2018 - Mercury News

Tudor City

Value Capture Replaces Congestion Pricing as Governor Cuomo's Subway Funding Fix

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) appears to be backing away from a controversial plan to toll midtown Manhattan but shows no reservations about embracing land value capture, which some regard as a "taking" by taxing land proximate to subway stations.

March 26, 2018 - Politico New York

Los Angeles Skyline with houses

California Spends $6.5 Billion on Homeowner Subsidies, 15 Times Less on Renters

A new report from the California Housing Partnership "revealed a wide gap between state support for homeowners and renters."

March 12, 2018 - Los Angeles Times

Gilpin County, Colorado

Colorado Tax Mandates Will Continue to Hurt Rural Areas

When home values rise, the state constitution requires cuts to residential tax rates that severely impact less-developed areas.

December 30, 2017 - The Denver Post

Vacant Lot

Oakland to Turn Vacant Properties into Affordable Housing

Oakland pilot program to buy up vacant lots and properties, whose owners have defaulted on their property taxes, to transform them into low- and medium-income housing.

November 15, 2017 - CBS

Colorado Homes

Home Builders Oppose Changes to Property Tax, Mortgage Interest Deductions

The National Association of Home Builders has decided that the Republican tax reform proposal would lower property values.

November 1, 2017 - USA Today

For Rent

Study: Urban Renters Move Often, and Voluntarily

The usual narrative of gentrification and displacement often assumes a static population. According to this study, urban renters move around very frequently, and most (but not all) of their moves are voluntary.

October 17, 2017 - City Observatory

Gentrification

Property Tax Relief for Longtime Residents Impacted by Gentrification

The city of Lexington in Kentucky is looking for ways to insulate long-time residents from rising property tax bills.

October 2, 2017 - Lexington Herald Leader

City of Kigali, Rwanda

Property Tax in Africa

The rapidly growing and urbanizing continent of Africa offers lessons in property tax.

July 21, 2017 - At Lincoln House

Property Tax Assessment Shake Up in Wisconsin

A highly anticipated decision by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court has stakeholders scrambling to anticipate changes to the property tax system.

July 18, 2017 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Southeast Michigan's RTA Could Trim its Footprint to Build Support for Transit Funding

One way to get a transit funding tax plan approved is just to cut outlying areas out of transit taxes, and transit planning, entirely.

July 11, 2017 - Detroit Free Press

University of Chicago

Should Rich Non-Profits Pay Property Tax?

Illinois' debt is teetering on the brink junk status and, while it's struggling, rich non-profits like Northwestern University continue to buy up expensive land while paying no property taxes.

July 10, 2017 - Chicago Tribune

Century City

L.A. Country Clubs Taking More Than Their Share and Paying Less

Malcom Gladwell takes on the racial and environmental problems related to the game of golf, particularly as it relates to L.A. property taxes and the Ship of Theseus.

June 16, 2017 - Revisionist History

Chicago

Cook County Property Taxes Cheat the Poor

In Cook County, which contains the city of Chicago and some of its suburbs, property values have been manipulated to disguise the value of homes, helping the rich at the expense of the poor (particularly poor minorities).

June 10, 2017 - The Chicago Tribune

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