Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Is the point to pay for the services needed by the city as a whole or are we trying to even things out?
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Tax is already calculated to cover the services needed in the mill rate that changes each year along with the assessed values revised each year.
Your scenario:
$ required by city (residential component) / number of owned properties
Current scenario:
$ required by city (residential component) / total assessed values
Both scenarios collect the same total amount. The current scenario, while flawed, attempts to provide a level of fairness. If you own a smaller or less expensive property generally those citizens should pay and in most cases probably can only afford to pay proportionally less property tax.
The assessment system sort of takes care of that. What it doesn't do is adjust for the imbalance between the $400,000 condo in Beltline vs the $400,000 single family in Legacy 25km away. The cost to service one citizen in Legacy is significantly more than to service the one living in Beltline. They both pay the same property tax.