If we’re not paying attention, it can be hard to tell whether a city is using debt to simply to smooth out cashflows, or if it’s just covering up insolvency. Here are four telltale signs of the latter scenario.
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You’ve just been sworn into your first elected office, and you’re committed to improving your city’s transportation network… But not so fast: not all money is free.
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Conventional thought would tell us that the new commercial developments in a city should be the most productive compared to the older buildings downtown, but that’s not necessarily the case.
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Many of the problems in our cities come down to a shortage in the budget—but the solution to this problem is staring us in the face.
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In Baltimore, some of the city’s least wealthy individuals may be overpaying on their property taxes by nearly $300 a year, whereas some of the richest could be underpaying by $14,000 or more.
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Detroit’s mayor is endorsing a land value tax plan that could lead to 97% of the city’s homeowners getting a 30% reduction in their taxes.
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A 2020 study revealed that areas around streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. are more segregated and poorer than the United States average. Now, data shows property values in these areas are affected, as well.
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In today’s cities, governments sink millions of dollars into public investments before securing any taxable private wealth to fund said investments. This is a financial risk we can’t afford to continue taking on.
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I was asked how much the typical suburban development is costing this Tennessee city. Here’s what I found.
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For local governments, it’s often easier to let the tangled web of debt at the heart of the budget go unexplored. In cities reliant on sales tax, these problems are only magnified.
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The Just Accounting for Health coalition has been researching and reporting on property tax inequities for the past 18 months. But the real work is just getting started—and it starts with you.
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Dating back to the 1800s, researchers in the U.S. have challenged the property tax system. So why, to this day, do the richest continue getting a "discount" on their taxes, while the poorest are overcharged?
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The Family Dollar system operates more stores than McDonald’s, Starbucks, Target, and Walmart combined. And that’s not good news for your community.
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Plenty of debate swirls around the question of whether or not government services like transit should be "free" to the end user. Here's what's missing from that debate.
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When a housing complex in Milwaukee's downtown was set aside in favor of building storage units, instead, this local wasn't just disappointed: he's alleging the plans shouldn't have been approved, in the first place.
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As Asheville, NC, promises to make up for past harms done to its Black community, it glosses over an ongoing disparity: less-wealthy homeowners (who are disproportionately Black) are overpaying on their property taxes.
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Let’s bust five myths on this highway expansion project.
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At a glance, the sales tax is a nearly invisible revenue source that is also a cash cow. Yet, for local governments, it is the most distorting of taxes. Here’s why.
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Why is this official course from the International Association of Assessing Officers still teaching outdated redlining practices to categorize neighborhoods?
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Data from North Carolina points to a nationwide problem: that services may be going unfunded in your community because of flawed processes, sloppy math, and lack of respect for the law in the property tax system.
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