Property taxes and elderly mobility

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Urban Economics
Year: 2010
Volume: 67
Issue: 2
Pages: 194-205

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The 2000-2005 housing market boom in the U.S. has caused sharp increases in residential property taxes. Housing-rich but income-poor elderly homeowners often complain about rising tax burdens, and anecdotal evidence suggests that some move to reduce their tax burden. There has been little systematic analysis, however, of the link between property tax levels and the mobility rate of elderly homeowners. This paper investigates this link using household-level panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and a newly collected data set on state-provided property tax relief programs. These relief programs generate variation in effective property tax burdens that is not due solely to arguably endogenous local community choices about taxes and expenditure programs. The findings provide evidence suggesting that higher property taxes raise mobility among elderly homeowners. The point estimates from instrumental variable estimation using relief programs to generate instruments suggest that a $100 increase in annual property taxes is associated with a 0.73 percentage point increase in the 2-year mobility rate for homeowners over the age of 50. This is an 8 percent increase from the baseline 2-year mobility rate of 9 percent. These results are robust to alternative specifications.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:juecon:v:67:y:2010:i:2:p:194-205
Journal Field
Urban
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29