State and Local Property Taxes

Download Special Report No. 106

Special Report No. 106

Executive Summary
The property tax has been an enigmatic issue among economic and political scholars over the last century. Although the property tax is the principal source of revenue for localities, broad consensus has not been reached on the basic issue of whether property taxes are regressive, proportional or progressive.

In 2001, state and local governments across the United States will collect an estimated $256 billion in property taxes.1 Approximately 95 percent of this total, $243
billion, will be collected by local government units including counties, cities, and school districts.

This survey of property tax collections also provides the reader with a basic understanding of property tax administration, as well as a primer on current economic thinking about how the property tax affects taxpayers and the economy.