PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

I thought I would start this month’s newsletter with an article entitled “What Really Rankles Property Taxpayers” as that sounds very topical! The author – Peter Gariepy – serves on the Ladue Schools Board of Education in St. Louis County, Missouri in the USA.

‍

He states: “Outdated assessment systems are opaque and structurally biased, leading to “data rot.” Local governments should invest in tools that make it easier for taxpayers to understand how their property is valued.

Read More

• Property taxes currently generate 70 percent of all local tax revenue, some or all of which would have to be replaced with other taxes under property tax repeal.
• Replacing the property tax with newly granted local taxing authority is exceedingly difficult, because local sales and income tax bases vary widely across jurisdictions; there may, for instance, be no feasible sales tax rate by which an agricultural county or bedroom community could replace its property tax revenue.
• Backfilling forgone local property tax revenue through new state taxes is difficult because it dramatically shifts overall tax burdens, undermines local accountability, and cannot easily adjust for changing population mixes.
• All revenue alternatives are less conducive to economic growth than the existing property tax regime, but some transfer regimes are sharply degrowth.