Property Tax Regressivity, the Case of Québec

Clément Carbonnier

Public Finance Review, 2024, vol. 52, issue 2, 155-181

Abstract: Three diverging interpretations of the property tax dominate the standard economic literature: the benefit view considers it meaningless to assess a distributive profile for the property tax; the capital-tax view assumes a progressive profile; and the excise-tax view assumes a regressive profile. This article discusses these views with theoretical and empirical arguments and defends the excise-tax view. Then, the distributive profile of the property tax in Québec is assessed thanks to a rich administrative database. The property tax appears very regressive. In addition, no general pattern appears depending on the size of the urban zones. At the opposite, property tax-to-income ratios depend steeply on the household composition, because of the economies of scale in housing consumption: they are larger for singles than couples (and even larger for aged singles) and lower for households with children than without children.

Keywords: inequalities; property tax; redistribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:52:y:2024:i:2:p:155-181

DOI: 10.1177/10911421231212354

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