Partisan Inequality in Property Tax Assessments: A Fiscal Burden on Political Minorities

36 Pages Posted: 17 Dec 2024

See all articles by Ankit Kalda

Ankit Kalda

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Finance

Vikas Soni

University of South Florida - Muma College of Business

Qianfan Wu

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Finance

Date Written: November 20, 2024

Abstract

We document a political partisanship-based assessment gap that imposes a disproportionate fiscal burden on political minorities. In Democratic counties, Republicans face higher property tax burdens than Democrats within the same tax jurisdiction, despite being subject to identical tax administration and rates. This partisan assessment gap is economically significant, amounting to 25-50% of the racial assessment gap. The effects are primarily driven by inter-neighborhood differences rather than within-neighborhood variations and stem from disparities in assessment values rather than market values. Political polarization, differences in tax regimes and wealth, and inconsistencies in tax assessments do not explain these findings. Instead, the composition of elected county officials contributes to our results. The higher tax burden for Republicans in Democratic counties is most pronounced in areas with predominantly Democratic county commissions and decreases as Republican representation in local government increases.

Keywords: Political partisanship, partisanship, property taxes, tax assessment, assessment gap

Suggested Citation

Kalda, Ankit and Soni, Vikas and Wu, Qianfan, Partisan Inequality in Property Tax Assessments: A Fiscal Burden on Political Minorities (November 20, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5061745 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5061745

Ankit Kalda (Contact Author)

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Finance ( email )

1309 E. 10th St.
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Vikas Soni

University of South Florida - Muma College of Business ( email )

Tampa, FL 33620
United States

Qianfan Wu

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Finance ( email )

1309 E. 10th St.
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
60
Abstract Views
228
Rank
727,893
PlumX Metrics