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1 Jared Walczak, Confronting the New Property Tax Revolt 1 (2024)

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*%TAX FOUNDATION




Confronting the

New Property Tax Revolt



Jared Walczak  Vice   President of State Projects

November  2024



Key Findings

•   Property values have skyrocketed in recent years, rising almost 27 percent faster than inflation since
    2020, which yields dramatically higher property taxes in jurisdictions that fail to adjust millages (rates)
    downward.
 •  Legitimate discontent over high property taxes is fueling a movement to significantly curtail or even
    eliminate the property tax, but many of the policy solutions offered, like assessment limits and tax
    swaps, create more problems than they solve, distorting property markets and undermining long-term
    housing affordability.
 •  Despite its unpopularity, the property tax is relatively economically efficient, and shifting to any alterna-
   tive tax would harm economic  growth.
 •  Well-designed levy limits can provide homeowners with much-needed relief from soaring property tax
    bills without the harms associated with other policy responses, and narrowly tailored circuit breakers
    can help ensure that low-income families are not priced out of their homes.
 •  The property tax is a tax worth saving-and therefore worth reforming. Policymakers should work
   to constrain the runaway growth of property tax liability witnessed in some parts of the country but
   should  not overcompensate  by eliminating or dramatically curtailing an economically efficient tax.















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