HOMESTEAD PREFERENCE IN THE MINNESOTA PROPERTY TAX SYSTEM

Abstract

Tax advantage to residential property occupied by the owner has become established in a number of states in their systems of property taxation. More than a decade has now passed since the homestead classification was first made a part of Minnesota's assessment law, and home owners in Minnesota have been paying property taxes under the low rate of value granted to owner-occupied property since 1935. Looking at the homestead classification from a present day viewpoint, with the knowledge and experience gained over a period of years, it is now possible to discern more clearly the results of this method of tax preference, to appraise the operation of the law, and to measure its effects.