Answered step by step
Verified Expert Solution
Link Copied!

Question

1 Approved Answer

DeKalb County is a large county in metropolitan Atlanta, GA. In an effort to relieve tax burden on homeowners and promote home ownership, the county

DeKalb County is a large county in metropolitan Atlanta, GA. In an effort to relieve tax burden on homeowners and promote home ownership, the county commission is considering a measure that would allow the county to exempt all owner-occupied properties from the property tax by offering a 100% property tax homestead exemption on the assessed value of the home (assume no homestead exemption is currently in place) effective January 1, 2022. And while owner-occupied housing will be exempt from all county property taxes, commercial, industrial, and rental properties will continue to pay property taxes at the current property tax rates. Other property taxing jurisdictions within DeKalb County including the school districts, fire districts, special districts etc. would continue to levy taxes on all properties (i.e. owner-occupied, commercial, industrial, and rental properties). Reassessment of properties is generally a responsibility of the county assessor’s office; however, the state of Georgia mandates county governments to reassess all properties every five years. The DeKalb County assessor’s office does not expect to reassess its properties until 2023.

Currently, all counties in metro Atlanta have the same sales tax rate (6%) and DeKalb County is the only one that plans to raise its sales tax rate to offset lost revenues from the 100% homestead exemption on owner occupied homes (it is also the only one that currently has the legal authority to do so). Food is the only retail item exempted from sales taxes. Based on last year’s sales and property tax revenues, the county commission has estimated that the additional sales tax revenue from a 1.5 percentage point increase (rate increase from 6% to 7.5%) should be sufficient to cover the foregone property tax revenue.

DeKalb County is a large county in metropolitan Atlanta, GA. In an effort to relieve tax burden on homeowners and promote home ownership, the county commission is considering a measure that would allow the county to exempt all owner-occupied properties from the property tax by offering a 100% property tax homestead exemption on the assessed value of the home (assume no homestead exemption is currently in place) effective January 1, 2022. And while owner-occupied housing will be exempt from all county property taxes, commercial, industrial, and rental properties will continue to pay property taxes at the current property tax rates. Other property taxing jurisdictions within DeKalb County including the school districts, fire districts, special districts etc. would continue to levy taxes on all properties (i.e. owner-occupied, commercial, industrial, and rental properties). Reassessment of properties is generally a responsibility of the county assessor’s office; however, the state of Georgia mandates county governments to reassess all properties every five years. The DeKalb County assessor’s office does not expect to reassess its properties until 2023.

Currently, all counties in metro Atlanta have the same sales tax rate (6%) and DeKalb County is the only one that plans to raise its sales tax rate to offset lost revenues from the 100% homestead exemption on owner occupied homes (it is also the only one that currently has the legal authority to do so). Food is the only retail item exempted from sales taxes. Based on last year’s sales and property tax revenues, the county commission has estimated that the additional sales tax revenue from a 1.5 percentage point increase (rate increase from 6% to 7.5%) should be sufficient to cover the foregone property tax revenue.

You are an aide to the county’s Chief Executive Officer and he has asked for your complete analysis of this proposal. Using the tax evaluation criteria (efficiency, equity, adequacy/elasticity/stability, and administration/feasibility), evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this proposal compared to not making a change (i.e. no homestead exemption and no increase in sales tax rate).

You are an aide to the county’s Chief Executive Officer and he has asked for your complete analysis of this proposal. Using the tax evaluation criteria (efficiency, equity, adequacy/elasticity/stability, and administration/feasibility), evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this proposal compared to not making a change (i.e. no homestead exemption and no increase in sales tax rate).


Step by Step Solution

3.49 Rating (156 Votes )

There are 3 Steps involved in it

Step: 1

blur-text-image

Get Instant Access to Expert-Tailored Solutions

See step-by-step solutions with expert insights and AI powered tools for academic success

Step: 2

blur-text-image

Step: 3

blur-text-image

Document Format ( 2 attachments)

PDF file Icon
608c00a37e7ab_208187.pdf

180 KBs PDF File

Word file Icon
608c00a37e7ab_208187.docx

120 KBs Word File

Ace Your Homework with AI

Get the answers you need in no time with our AI-driven, step-by-step assistance

Get Started

Recommended Textbook for

Elementary Statistics

Authors: Robert R. Johnson, Patricia J. Kuby

11th Edition

978-053873350, 9781133169321, 538733500, 1133169325, 978-0538733502

More Books

Students also viewed these Accounting questions

Question

How does an STL algorithm take a container as an output argument?

Answered: 1 week ago