David Schleicher

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Of interest to, IDK, @arpitrage.bsky.social @stephenjacobsmith.com @bhighsmith.bsky.social @bdgesq.bsky.social @hanlon.bsky.social @cselmendorf.bsky.social @dkthomp.bsky.social @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social @mattyglesias.bsky.social @dwallacewells.bsky.social @jerusalem.bsky.social

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Freakout is an example of something @annielowrey.bsky.social has written about eloquently. Americans are increasingly unwilling to support rate-lowering, base broadening tax reforms or the idea of taxes as shared sacrifice. Everyone is out to get their own tax breaks, including majorities!

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Freakout will also have weird effects on land use. Builders will have greater incentives to build legally allowable owner-occupied homes (terrific!), but local governments will have greater fiscal incentives to use zoning to restrict the construction of homes (less terrific!)

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

“Home voters” no longer limit themselves to running governments for their own benefit, setting tax levels and services levels that fit their needs. Instead, they increasingly think of local government as a tool for taking resources from commercial property owners and renters.

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

These reforms change the nature of the property tax. Rather than being, as “Tieboutians" argue, a tool for property owners to burden themselves to provide wanted services, property taxes are becoming a redistributive tax, sending money from commercial property owners to homeowners.

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Why? Housing prices, particularly in suburbs, rose substantially post-COVID. You might think people would be happy to be richer, but they were very angry that their increasing wealth meant increasing property tax burdens. Better to make someone else responsible for the resulting taxes!

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The reforms keep on coming: Florida is voting this November on a super-sizing of its homestead exemption for non-school property taxes, exempting more than half of all owner-occupiers from paying.

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The property tax has played a large role in funding governments in America since the founding era, and is the central form of own-source revenue for local governments and schools Only rarely has it been as politically radioactive as it is today.

Lol. "Zoning reform won't work to address the housing crisis. Instead, let's pretend it's 1946." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/o...

There's plenty the feds/states can and should do to spur investment in housing, from tax to Fannie and Freddie, but a huge spending program, given fiscal challenges, isn't happening and would still need to overcome the central challenge of zoning reform, neighborhood opposition

Probably some random variation in this, but NYC's murder rate continues to decline quickly this year, following last year's big decline. It's *70%* lower than at this time last year www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/...