The New View of the Property Tax: A Reformulation

The"new view" of the property tax is reformulated within the context of a model with interjurisdictional competition, endogenous local public services, individuals who are segregated into homogeneous communities according to tastes for local public services, a simple form of land use zoning, and a political or constitutional constraint on the use of head taxes by local governments. Expressions for the "profits tax" and"excise tax" effects of the property tax are derived. The effects of a "consumption distortion" away from government services due to local reluctance to tax mobile capital are also examined.

The Incidence of the Local Property Tax: A Re-evaluation

The article identifies the key assumptions that underlie competing theories of the incidence of the local property tax. We conclude that the"benefit view" which maintains that the property tax system is equivalent to a set of non-distortionary user changes is correct only under very restrictive assumptions. Only when communities adopt a set of exact, binding zoning requirements will a distortionary tax be transformed into a lump-sum tax. We argue that within jurisdiction heterogeneity of house and firm typeis very unlikely and that the burden of a property tax that is distortionary at the margin falls on the owners of capital.