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Shocked and Not Shocked by Home Assessments May 24, 2022

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Have you received your Form 11 from your Indiana county assessor? Purdue Economist Larry Deboer has. He was both shocked and not shocked by his new assessment. In this month's episode, Larry walks us through potential impacts of property assessments.

How to Read an Indiana School Referendum Question Apr 19, 2022

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Election Day is coming up – on Tuesday, May 3 – and school referendums will be on the ballot in nine school districts. It’s best if voters investigate the referendum issues in advance, so they know whether to vote yes or no. What if you didn’t do your homework and want to do the benefit-cost comparison on the fly, in the voting booth? Larry Deboer has advice just for you.

The Residential Share of Property Taxes is on the Rise Mar 30, 2022

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Here’s one way to think about property taxes: The local government sets its budget, subtracts all other tax revenue, and raises the remainder with the property tax levy. The assessor measures the value of all the parcels of taxable property inside the boundaries of the government. Then the government measures the share of each parcel in total assessed value. That is the share of the levy that the owners must pay.

In other words, your property’s share in the total value of property is your share of the property tax levy. We use property value shares to divvy up responsibility for funding local government.

What Will Happen to Inflation? Feb 22, 2022

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The inflation rate was 7.5 percent from January 2021 to January 2022, the highest inflation in 40 years. It arrived suddenly and unexpectedly. A year ago the inflation rate was 1.4 percent, which was lower than the 1.7 percent average rate over the previous decade.

It’s an unwelcome throwback to the Great Inflation of the 1970s. What happened, and when will it go away?

Farmland Assessments will Increase for Taxes in 2023 Jan 28, 2022

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Farmland property taxes have been falling. Total property taxes paid by agricultural property owners fell 2.3 percent per year from 2017 to 2021, mostly because of lower farmland assessed values.

But farmland prices are rising. A Purdue Agricultural Economics survey showed that average farmland selling prices increased 12.5% from 2020 to 2021. Eventually, farmland assessed values will rise too.

What Happens to Property Taxes During Inflation? Jan 04, 2022

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The property tax is the biggest source of tax revenue for most Indiana local governments, and they were worried about the effect of the COVID recession on property tax revenues.

But rising home values in 2020 will increase assessed values for tax bills in 2022.

We Finally Know How the Recession Will Affect Property Taxes Nov 29, 2021

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What will be the effect of the COVID recession on the property taxes that fund Indiana local governments? I’ve been thinking and writing about the possibilities for a year and a half. Now we have enough data to answer that question. No spoilers, though. Let’s consider what could happen—and what did happen after the Great Recession in 2007-09.

The Great Recession depressed new construction and reduced the demand for property. Property prices fell, especially for homes. Statewide, assessed values fell in 2011 and again in 2013. Assessments declined in 54 of 92 counties in 2013 alone.

The COVID recession was in 2020. Changes in property values were assessed in 2021, for tax bills in 2022. The recession of 2020 would hit local government budgets in 2022.

Birth Rates Have Been Falling for a Long Time Oct 20, 2021

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Americans are having fewer children. Reports this past summer showed that the fertility rate dropped in 2020, to 56 births per 1,000 women age 15 to 44. Only 5.6 percent of women in their child-bearing years had babies. Early indications for 2021 showed a further decline.

Fertility has been dropping for more than a decade. Fertility rates peaked in 2007 at 69 per 1,000 women age 15 to 44. The rate had been rising in the decade before that.

Let’s take a longer view. Much longer.

What Three Forecasts Say About Our Economic Future Sep 22, 2021

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Where is our economy going? Let’s ask some folks whose job it is to forecast the future of the U.S. economy. How about looking at three forecasts – one from government economists, one from academic economists, and one from business economists.

Last Year’s Recession Hits Indiana Local Governments Next Year Aug 19, 2021

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The recession may be over for the U.S. economy, but for Indiana local governments the recession is just about to start. That’s because the property tax and the local income tax respond to economic changes with a two-year delay. What happened to the economy in 2020 happens to local tax revenues in 2022.

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