Report Outline
Dependence on Property Tax During Depression
Extent and Character of Tax Limitation Laws
Opposing Views on Desirability of Tax Limits
Movement to Exempt Property from Taxation
Defects in Existing Real Estate Tax Systems
Dependence on Property Tax During Depression
Drastic Curtailment of Revenues of Local Governments
By tapping new sources of taxable wealth and increasing the rates of existing non-property taxes, state governments have attempted during the depression to correct inequities in their tax systems resulting from the decline in income from property. Local governments, however, have continued to depend on the general property tax for upwards of 90 per cent of their tax revenues. Two significant consequences have attended the failure of local governments to diversify tax sources during the depression. First, local revenues have been drastically reduced. Second, property-owning groups have made organized efforts to relieve the tax burden on real estate through the adoption of constitutional or statutory provisions limiting property tax rates or exempting homesteads from taxation.
Expenditures of local governments in 1935 are estimated at about 20 per cent, or $1,250,000; 000, less than in the peak year of 1930. “The obvious cause of the decline,” according to Lent D. Upson, director of the Detroit Bureau of Municipal Research, “has been the firm reliance of local government for income upon ad valorem taxation.” Upson reports that although assessed values have been reduced since 1929, this reduction has been partly compensated for by an increase in tax rates, the amount of property taxes levied having held “fairly steady throughout the depression.” Thus, the reduced incomes and expenditures of local governments have been the result of unpaid, rather than of lower, taxes. Property tax delinquency reached its peak early in 1934, when more than 20 per cent of total state and local levies for the year 1932–1933 became delinquent.
The curtailment of the revenues of local governments resulting from continued dependence on property taxation has made necessary reductions in services and salaries, payment in scrip or warrants, and in some instances defaults on bonded debt. A further consequence has been an accentuation of the trend toward state centralization because of the inability of local governments to support local services. |
|
|
 |
Feb. 07, 2020 |
Hidden Money |
 |
Jun. 28, 2013 |
Internet Shopping |
 |
Jan. 16, 1998 |
IRS Reform |
 |
Mar. 22, 1996 |
Tax Reform |
 |
Apr. 06, 1990 |
How Fair Is the Nation's Tax Burden? |
 |
Aug. 28, 1987 |
Taxing Business Services |
 |
Oct. 17, 1986 |
Tax Reform In The States |
 |
Sep. 28, 1984 |
Tax Debate: 1984 Election and Beyond |
 |
Mar. 19, 1982 |
Tax-Exemption Controversy |
 |
May 19, 1978 |
Property Tax Relief |
 |
Apr. 07, 1978 |
Tax Shelters and Reform |
 |
Feb. 10, 1971 |
Property Tax Reform |
 |
Mar. 26, 1969 |
Tax Reform Pressures |
 |
Mar. 24, 1965 |
Excise Tax Cuts and the Economy |
 |
Feb. 15, 1961 |
Flexible Taxation |
 |
Apr. 02, 1959 |
State Tax Problems |
 |
Apr. 23, 1958 |
Tax Reduction, 1958 |
 |
Aug. 14, 1957 |
Fast Tax Write-Offs |
 |
Apr. 10, 1957 |
Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes |
 |
Sep. 12, 1956 |
Corporation Profits and Taxes in Prosperity |
 |
Mar. 16, 1954 |
Shares in Tax Relief |
 |
Nov. 21, 1953 |
Revision of Excise Taxes |
 |
Mar. 19, 1953 |
Federal-State Tax Relations |
 |
Oct. 01, 1952 |
European Taxes and Tax Evasion |
 |
Nov. 03, 1950 |
Excess Profits Tax |
 |
Feb. 01, 1950 |
Tax Loopholes |
 |
Jun. 04, 1949 |
Excise Taxes |
 |
Oct. 27, 1948 |
Postwar Sales Taxes |
 |
Aug. 29, 1947 |
Taxation of Family Income |
 |
Apr. 09, 1947 |
Income Tax Relief |
 |
Jan. 11, 1946 |
Taxation of Cooperatives |
 |
Oct. 16, 1945 |
Federal Taxes on Business |
 |
May 08, 1944 |
Postwar Taxes |
 |
Sep. 20, 1943 |
Sales Taxes |
 |
Dec. 05, 1941 |
New Taxes for Defense |
 |
Apr. 05, 1941 |
Taxation for National Defense |
 |
Feb. 28, 1941 |
Taxation of Alcoholic Beverages |
 |
Jan. 11, 1941 |
Exemptions from Taxation |
 |
Dec. 04, 1940 |
Federal Taxes and Defense Financing |
 |
Feb. 01, 1940 |
Sharing of Tax Revenues |
 |
Feb. 02, 1939 |
Turnover Taxes in the States |
 |
Nov. 05, 1937 |
Broadening of the Income-Tax Base |
 |
Jun. 17, 1937 |
Exemptions from Income Taxation |
 |
Apr. 05, 1937 |
Coordination of Federal and State Tax Systems |
 |
Dec. 19, 1936 |
Revision of Federal Tax on Capital Gains |
 |
Nov. 02, 1936 |
State Taxation of Natural Resources |
 |
May 26, 1936 |
Assessment of Property for Taxation |
 |
Apr. 17, 1936 |
Federal Taxes on Consumption |
 |
Mar. 19, 1936 |
Taxation of Undistributed Corporate Profits |
 |
Dec. 17, 1935 |
Reduction of Tax Burdens on Real Estate |
 |
Oct. 21, 1935 |
Tax Delinquency in the United States |
 |
May 21, 1935 |
Comparative Tax Burdens in America and Britain |
 |
Feb. 01, 1935 |
Federal Taxation of Corporations |
 |
Nov. 27, 1934 |
Elimination of Conflicts in Taxation |
 |
Jul. 25, 1933 |
Taxation of Excess Profits |
 |
Jan. 25, 1933 |
Tax Burdens and Tax-Free Securities |
 |
Nov. 23, 1932 |
The Beer Tax and the Sales Tax |
 |
Dec. 19, 1931 |
Sales Taxes: Federal, State, and Foreign |
 |
Sep. 18, 1931 |
Death Taxes and the Concentration of Wealth |
 |
Mar. 18, 1931 |
Federal Taxation of Large Incomes |
 |
Jan. 10, 1931 |
Taxation of Capital Gains |
 |
Nov. 09, 1929 |
Federal Tax Reduction-1930 |
 |
Aug. 08, 1927 |
Federal Tax Reduction—1928 |
 |
Sep. 27, 1926 |
Tax Reduction and the Public Debt |
 |
Jan. 16, 1926 |
Taxation of Estates and Inheritances |
 |
Nov. 07, 1925 |
Federal Taxation of Small Incomes |
 |
Nov. 28, 1924 |
Social, Fiscal and Legal Aspects of the Inheritance Tax |
 |
Apr. 07, 1924 |
Causes and Effects of the Tax Return Blockade |
 |
Dec. 12, 1923 |
Tax Exempt Securities |
 |
Dec. 10, 1923 |
Taxation |
| | |
|