The article identifies the key assumptions that underlie competing theories of the incidence of the local property tax. We conclude that the"benefit view" which maintains that the property tax system is equivalent to a set of non-distortionary user changes is correct only under very restrictive...

The"new view" of the property tax is reformulated within the context of a model with interjurisdictional competition, endogenous local public services, individuals who are segregated into homogeneous communities according to tastes for local public services, a simple form of land use zoning, and...

Section II briefly reviews the literature on the efficiency effects of the property tax. Section III presents the details of our model of local use of the property tax. Simulation results for the efficiency costs of local property taxation are presented in section IV for a variety of model...