Civitas Forum: Property Taxes

Wisconsin State Journal
9/1/2007

If it feels like your property taxes keep going up, you're correct. The property tax on an average Wisconsin home rose 184 percent from 1981 through 2005.

Despite that increase, property taxes today are not historically high, said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. "As a percentage of personal income, property taxes (for all types of property) are lower today than they were 30 to 40 years ago," he told a Civitas forum. That's the result of state school revenue limits, plus state aid and property tax relief programs.

But homeowners pay a greater share of the property tax than they used to. Residential property owners paid about 71 percent of all property taxes collected in 2005, up from about 57 percent in 1980 and only 40 percent in 1946. Commercial property owners account for about 18 percent of all property taxes, manufacturers just over 3 percent, agriculture about 2 percent and other property about 5 percent.

Why the change?

Experts attribute the shift to a growing number of housing units, rising housing values, conversion of other property to residential use, a decline in agricultural values and exemption of some farm and manufacturing equipment.

What you think: In a March 2006 Wood Communications Group survey of 600 Dane County residents, 75 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, "I love this area but I don't know how much longer folks like me can afford the property taxes."

Test your knowledge

Most of us get our property tax bill from the local city, village or town. On average, what percentage of your payment goes to fund the municipality that sent you the bill? (a) 100 (b) 69 (c) 51 (d) 24 (e) 11. Check next week for the answer.

Got a question?

Civitas experts can answer your public policy question. E-mail national@madison.com

What is Civitas? These monthly seminars inform citizens about local government issues and civic responsibility. They are organized by Wood Communications Group and financially supported by several Madison area companies. For more information, visit www.civitaswi.org.