Introduction -- Property Tax Systems and their Administration -- Who Pays Which Property Taxes -- Estimating the Property Tax Expenditure -- What is the Property Tax Expenditure Worth? -- Public Service Cost of the Tax Expenditure -- Conclusion.

This study explores the performance of assessment administration during the Great Recession using a panel of Washington state counties from 2006 to 2011. The housing bust is treated as a productivity shock to the assessment process. Due to rapidly changing environmental conditions and declining...