Review by Choice Review
O'Sullivan, Sexton, and Sheffrin offer a timely analysis of California's unique acquisition value, property tax system, as well as insights into the impact of property tax limitations on local public services and local revenue sources in California and elsewhere. In California, property is only reassessed when it changes hands. Taxable value for property that remains in the same ownership rises two percent a year, considerably less than actual market appreciation. While this system simplifies the problem of property assessment and reduces tax pressures on established homeowners, it discriminates against more mobile individuals and creates significant inequities in tax burdens between owners of similar properties. The authors present a thorough statistical analysis of the disparities in assessments over time using a technique called renewal theory, and they offer some useful suggestions for modifying property tax systems to balance the objectives of simplicity, equity, and revenue adequacy. Analysis is somewhat technical but useful to both academics and practitioners in the property tax field. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. H. H. Ulbrich; Clemson University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
