The Assessment Gap: Racial Inequalities in Property Taxation
研究发现美国地方政府对黑人和西班牙裔居民征收的财产税比白人高出10%-13%，这种不平等主要源于评估过程对社区特征的敏感性不足以及申诉行为中的种族差异。
Abstract We document a nationwide “assessment gap” that leads local governments to place a disproportionate fiscal burden on racial and ethnic minorities. We show that holding taxing jurisdictions and property tax rates fixed, Black and Hispanic residents face a 10%–13% higher tax burden for the same bundle of public services. We decompose this disparity into between- and within-neighborhood components and find that just over half of it arises between neighborhoods. We then present evidence on mechanisms. Property assessments are less sensitive to neighborhood attributes than market prices are. This generates spatial variation in tax burden within jurisdiction and leads to overtaxation of communities with a high share of minority residents. We also find appeals behavior and appeals outcomes differ by race within neighborhood. Inequality does not arise from (i) racial differences in transaction prices or (ii) differences in features of the housing stock.