VOTER PERCEPTION OF PROPERTY TAX INCIDENCE AS REVEALED BY SCHOOL EXPENDITURE DECISIONS

Abstract

Voters' beliefs about the burdens they bear from taxes on nonresidential property are estimated for five nonresidential property categories, using Arizona school district data and a reduced form equation based on a two period median voter structural model developed by Helen F. Ladd. Arizona voters apparently believe that they bear virtually none of the property taxes levied on industry; agriculture; rails, utilities, and mines; and vacant rural land: all are believed to be borne by others, with taxes on vacant rural land apparently believed to reduce other tax burdens (perhaps by stimulating economic development). Voters may believe that they bear some or possibly even all of the taxes on commercial property, but this result is not conclusive. These Arizona results differ markedly from Ladd's Massachusetts results.