Property Tax Assessment Limits - Lessons From Thirty Years of Experience

This policy focus report examines options that exist for timely and efficient aid to needy taxpayers, including circuit breaker programs that reduce taxes based on income level; truth in taxation measures; deferral options on property tax payments; partial exemptions on owner-occupied or homestead properties; and classified tax rates.

Mark Haveman, executive director of the Minnesota Taxpayers Association, joined the organization in 2002 as part of an effort to revitalize its research and education arm, the Minnesota Center for Public Finance Research. Previously, Haveman was vice president of a policy and technology consulting firm specializing in environmental protection and resource conservation issues. He has also served on policy and project advisory boards for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, as well as for several state agencies, academic institutions, and private foundations
Terri A. Sexton is professor of economics at California State University, Sacramento, and associate director of the Center for State and Local Taxation at the University of California, Davis. Sexton’s research has focused on the economic and fiscal impacts of various state and local taxes including a comprehensive study of Proposition 13, with Steven M. Sheffrin and Arthur O’Sullivan, that culminated in Property Taxes and Tax Revolts: The Legacy of Proposition 13 (Cambridge University Press, 1995). Her research has appeared in such publications as National Tax Journal, Land Economics, Rand Journal of Economics, and Journal of Urban Economics.