Comparing Tax Assessing Policies of Township Assessors in St. Joseph County

摘要

The purpose of the study is to determine within St. Joseph County, Ind., the extent and direction of intertownship differences in the ratio of assessment to market value for residential, commercial, and industrial properties, and to suggest why these differences exist. Determination of assessment to market value ratios is made through sampling sales transpiring during the last several years and stratifying these samples by township and property type. Based on these samples, assessment ratios are cross - classified by township, property type, property value and property age, and compared to establish systematic differences. Estimated tax formulas were used to determine that intertownship differentials favored newer townships, and that, in terms of property tax savings by locating in a newer township, this amounted to a savings of as much as $373 per year on a $50,000 residential property. It was also noted that infrequent assessments generally provide greater benefits to those owning more expensive properties, and that inequities arise within a township in terms of the relatively large dispersions in assessments for the same value of property. In addition, older properties tend to have a much weaker correlation between assessments and selling prices and much wider dispersion of estimated assessed values. Of all the characteristics analyzed, the most important to understanding differences in assessment - selling price formulas is neighborhood quality. Tabular data, graphs, and bibliography are included.