Center for Policy Research
Property Tax Web Series
Assessment Regressivity and the Homestead Exemption
Ruchi Singh and Daniel McMillen
May 2024
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Abstract
The statutory incidence of the property tax is not regressive across jurisdictions when regressivity is defined as having higher effective tax rates for lower-valued properties. However, a long-standing tendency toward higher assessment rates for low-priced homes commonly leads to a regressive tax structure. Using CoreLogic data, we calculate the size of the homestead exemption that would eliminate regressivity for 9,091 municipalities, of which the vast majority (92.3%) have at least somewhat regressive assessment practices. The median value of the required exemption is $24,639, and the inter-quartile range is $10,270 - $47,512.
This paper was presented by Ruchi Singh (University of Georgia) on May 3, 2024 as part of the 2023-2024 Syracuse-Chicago Webinar Series on Property Tax Administration and Design. Luke Rodgers (Florida State University) was the discussant for this presentation.
Rodgers comments on Singh's "Assessment Regressivity and the Homestead Exemption."
This Syracuse-Chicago Webinar Series on Property Tax Administration and Design aims to gather insight and scholarship through domestic and international comparative studies with common threads to help reform and improve property tax administration and design in the U.S. and other countries facing similar problems.
For questions about the webinars, please contact Zia Jackson. For questions about this paper, please contact the author or authors.