What is a the disadvantage of using property taxes?

Answer 1

The disadvantage of property taxes are that they discourage property ownership. If you rent, you dont have to pay Property Taxes. If you own, then you do have to pay property taxes. Therefore, property taxes encourage people to rent instead of own, by making ownership more expensive :)

Answer 2

In most areas, property taxes are generally assessed on the market value of real property. Over time, as the assessed value of the property increases, the taxes also increase. One of the biggest problems relating to the use of property taxes is process of fair and uniform assessment. Another problem is that property owners who occupy their real estate (whether residential or commercial) see their taxes rise over time without any relation to their income or their ability to pay the taxes. This effect oftens results in property taxes becoming regressive (having a larger impact on lower income taxpayers.) Many states have chosen to fixed assessments for seniors, who it assumes are on fixed incomes, and some have given breaks to low income owners. These allowances, while aiding one negatively impacted group, result in further problems in trying to maintain uniform standards of assessment.

Answer 3

Property taxes tax wealth, as opposed to income.
They make it difficult to raise money in poor neighborhoods, and make accumulating wealth in poor neighborhoods more difficult.
Property taxes also are difficult on those with little or low income to pay. You can't sell a portion of your house to pay the taxes, so you have to find other sources of income to pay the tax (difficult on the retired and disabled, for instance).

Answer 4

What bmwdrive is missing is that the owner of the rental property pays property taxes, so even though the renter doesn't pay them, the owner will essentially include them in the rent.

Answer 5

They taste funny and are hard to digest.