Property Tax Rates Being Set Across Missouri

This is the time of year when a multitude of local elected officials across Missouri are setting property tax rates. Because 2011 was a resassessment year, those rates are generally changing. (In non-reassessment years, the rates generally don’t change or change only slightly unless voters have approved a tax increase.) Cities, counties, school boards, fire districts, library districts, and many other types of tax authorities will be setting their rates this month. The new reassessment that property owners received earlier this year will be combined with the new tax rates to result in the bill property owners will receive in late October/early November and must pay by Dec. 31.

Just in time for this process, the Show-Me Institute has released a series of pieces on property taxation. We have a new policy study that details exactly how property taxes are implemented in Missouri, including a literature review considering the economics of property taxation and the ideas of Charles Tiebout.

There is a case study that details the manner in which public services and property taxes are capitalized into housing prices in Richmond Heights, Mo. We have two videos: one describing the myriad of tax districts that implement property taxes in Missouri, from the common to the little-known, and one which also focuses on Richmond Heights.

The policy and case studies share the briefing paper, and there is an op-ed that has already run in the Saint Louis Beacon on this topic. These pieces were all written by Christine Harbin and myself. Josh Smith helped out with the research and the videos. A number of interns helped out as well, and proud we are of all of them. If you are interested in the questions and debates that involve property taxation, we hope you find these studies and videos interesting.