2022/02/03 by Keith Ihlanfeldt, Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, Luke P. Rodgers +1 · 19 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Economics #Finance #Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis #Gross income #Housing Market and Economics #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Income tax #Labour economics #Law #Progressive tax #Property (philosophy) #Property tax #Property value #Public economics #Real estate #Residential property #State income tax #Tax exemption #Tax reform #Valuation (finance)
paper · doi:10.1086/717587
published in National Tax Journal 75(1), 7-31 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 2022/02/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/30
Homestead exemption policies are ostensibly intended to reduce the property tax burden of lower-income homeowners. Because assessment rates tend be lower for higher-priced homes, the opposing effects of exemptions and regressive assessments can result in either a regressive or progressive property tax. Using 2018 data on all single-family homes in Florida, we find that in the majority of counties, the homestead exemption dominates regressive assessment, resulting in a progressive tax. We also explore how progressivity would be affected by modifying current features of the property tax, including the homestead exemption take-up rate, the cap on valuation growth, and regressive assessments.