75 Years of Research on the Property Tax

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of academic research on the effects of the property tax over the past 75 years, with a special emphasis on articles that have appeared in the National Tax Journal over that time period. The primary topics covered are property tax relief in the form of property tax limitations, property tax administration with a focus on assessment practices and assessment inequities, and — the topic that receives the most attention — the critical and long-standing debate on whether the incidence of the property tax is best described by the “capital tax view” or the “benefit tax view.”