Report Outline
Signs of Taxpayer Unrest
Evolution of Property Taxes
Outlook for Local Taxation
Special Focus
Signs of Taxpayer Unrest
Movement to Lower Real Estate Levies
The property tax is perhaps the least popular of all taxes. In a recent poll conducted by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 33 per cent of the people questioned said their property taxes were unfair. Economists and taxpayers across the country agree that the system is badly in need of reform. Discontent over assessment practices and rising taxes is currently the focus of political debate in California, Massachusetts and several other states. In such cities as Philadelphia property tax relief has emerged as a national “grass-roots” issue. Californians, in statewide voting likely to influence the rest of the nation, will decide June 6 whether to impose drastic limits on property taxation.
Taxes on property — chiefly on real estate — are the principal sources of local revenues for such essential services as public schools and police protection. They accounted for 81 per cent of the $67.5 billion that local governments throughout America collected from taxpayers in 1976, the latest year for which such figures have been compiled by the Census Bureau. Property taxes rose from a yearly average of $168 per person in 1970 to $242 in 1975, the bureau further reported. As a national average, the share of personal income taken by these taxes has also been increasing. The Conference Board, an independent economics research organization, estimated that in 1977 the major state and local taxes (income, sales and property) siphoned off 9 per cent of Americans' income; federal taxes took about 14 per cent.
Although protests against property taxes have become a familiar feature of the American scene, local governments have rarely been in a position to push for tax cuts. But since 1970, most states have passed laws enabling municipal jurisdictions to reduce residential taxes. And recent local budget surpluses — in some cases the result of increased federal revenue sharing — have made tax reductions inevitable. Urban experts say that New York City's widely publicized battle against bankruptcy has averted public attention from the fact that many municipal treasuries are fatter than they have been in years. |
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Feb. 07, 2020 |
Hidden Money |
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Jun. 28, 2013 |
Internet Shopping |
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Jan. 16, 1998 |
IRS Reform |
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Mar. 22, 1996 |
Tax Reform |
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Apr. 06, 1990 |
How Fair Is the Nation's Tax Burden? |
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Aug. 28, 1987 |
Taxing Business Services |
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Oct. 17, 1986 |
Tax Reform In The States |
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Sep. 28, 1984 |
Tax Debate: 1984 Election and Beyond |
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Mar. 19, 1982 |
Tax-Exemption Controversy |
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May 19, 1978 |
Property Tax Relief |
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Apr. 07, 1978 |
Tax Shelters and Reform |
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Feb. 10, 1971 |
Property Tax Reform |
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Mar. 26, 1969 |
Tax Reform Pressures |
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Mar. 24, 1965 |
Excise Tax Cuts and the Economy |
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Feb. 15, 1961 |
Flexible Taxation |
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Apr. 02, 1959 |
State Tax Problems |
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Apr. 23, 1958 |
Tax Reduction, 1958 |
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Aug. 14, 1957 |
Fast Tax Write-Offs |
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Apr. 10, 1957 |
Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes |
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Sep. 12, 1956 |
Corporation Profits and Taxes in Prosperity |
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Mar. 16, 1954 |
Shares in Tax Relief |
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Nov. 21, 1953 |
Revision of Excise Taxes |
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Mar. 19, 1953 |
Federal-State Tax Relations |
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Oct. 01, 1952 |
European Taxes and Tax Evasion |
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Nov. 03, 1950 |
Excess Profits Tax |
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Feb. 01, 1950 |
Tax Loopholes |
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Jun. 04, 1949 |
Excise Taxes |
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Oct. 27, 1948 |
Postwar Sales Taxes |
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Aug. 29, 1947 |
Taxation of Family Income |
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Apr. 09, 1947 |
Income Tax Relief |
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Jan. 11, 1946 |
Taxation of Cooperatives |
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Oct. 16, 1945 |
Federal Taxes on Business |
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May 08, 1944 |
Postwar Taxes |
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Sep. 20, 1943 |
Sales Taxes |
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Dec. 05, 1941 |
New Taxes for Defense |
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Apr. 05, 1941 |
Taxation for National Defense |
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Feb. 28, 1941 |
Taxation of Alcoholic Beverages |
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Jan. 11, 1941 |
Exemptions from Taxation |
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Dec. 04, 1940 |
Federal Taxes and Defense Financing |
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Feb. 01, 1940 |
Sharing of Tax Revenues |
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Feb. 02, 1939 |
Turnover Taxes in the States |
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Nov. 05, 1937 |
Broadening of the Income-Tax Base |
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Jun. 17, 1937 |
Exemptions from Income Taxation |
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Apr. 05, 1937 |
Coordination of Federal and State Tax Systems |
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Dec. 19, 1936 |
Revision of Federal Tax on Capital Gains |
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Nov. 02, 1936 |
State Taxation of Natural Resources |
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May 26, 1936 |
Assessment of Property for Taxation |
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Apr. 17, 1936 |
Federal Taxes on Consumption |
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Mar. 19, 1936 |
Taxation of Undistributed Corporate Profits |
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Dec. 17, 1935 |
Reduction of Tax Burdens on Real Estate |
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Oct. 21, 1935 |
Tax Delinquency in the United States |
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May 21, 1935 |
Comparative Tax Burdens in America and Britain |
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Feb. 01, 1935 |
Federal Taxation of Corporations |
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Nov. 27, 1934 |
Elimination of Conflicts in Taxation |
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Jul. 25, 1933 |
Taxation of Excess Profits |
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Jan. 25, 1933 |
Tax Burdens and Tax-Free Securities |
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Nov. 23, 1932 |
The Beer Tax and the Sales Tax |
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Dec. 19, 1931 |
Sales Taxes: Federal, State, and Foreign |
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Sep. 18, 1931 |
Death Taxes and the Concentration of Wealth |
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Mar. 18, 1931 |
Federal Taxation of Large Incomes |
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Jan. 10, 1931 |
Taxation of Capital Gains |
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Nov. 09, 1929 |
Federal Tax Reduction-1930 |
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Aug. 08, 1927 |
Federal Tax Reduction—1928 |
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Sep. 27, 1926 |
Tax Reduction and the Public Debt |
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Jan. 16, 1926 |
Taxation of Estates and Inheritances |
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Nov. 07, 1925 |
Federal Taxation of Small Incomes |
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Nov. 28, 1924 |
Social, Fiscal and Legal Aspects of the Inheritance Tax |
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Apr. 07, 1924 |
Causes and Effects of the Tax Return Blockade |
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Dec. 12, 1923 |
Tax Exempt Securities |
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Dec. 10, 1923 |
Taxation |
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