Abstract

We document a nationwide “assessment gap” which 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 percent 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 either (i) racial differences in transaction prices or (ii) differences in features of the housing stock.

中文翻译：

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评估差距：财产税中的种族不平等*

摘要

我们记录了一个全国性的“评估差距”，这导致地方政府将不成比例的财政负担置于种族和少数民族身上。我们表明，在税收管辖区和财产税率固定不变的情况下，黑人和西班牙裔居民在相同的公共服务包中面临高出 10% 至 13% 的税收负担。我们将这种差异分解为邻域之间和邻域内的成分，发现其中超过一半出现在邻域之间。然后，我们提供有关机制的证据。与市场价格相比，房产评估对社区属性的敏感性较低。这会在管辖范围内产生税收负担的​​空间差异，并导致少数族裔居民比例较高的社区过度征税。我们还发现上诉行为和上诉结果因社区内的种族而异。