property tax

Charter

# Cause Charter (records-attribution) ## Purpose Assemble a jurisdiction-grounded public-record dossier on how property tax systems operate in practice—assessment methods, exemptions/abatements, appeals, and fiscal reliance—so residents and policymakers can evaluate whether burdens and benefits are distributed as statutes and administrative standards intend. ## What success looks like (documentary outputs) - **System map (by jurisdiction sample):** A clearly cited description of the legal and administrative pipeline (valuation → classification → exemptions/abatements → levy rates → billing → appeals → collection/enforcement), anchored to statutes, administrative rules, assessor manuals, and meeting records. - **Assessment performance file:** A compilation of **ratio/equalization studies** and any published performance audits indicating assessment level/uniformity (e.g., COD/PRD equivalents where reported), with comparisons by property class and geography where records allow. - **Exemptions/abatements ledger:** A record-based inventory of major exemptions, abatements, TIF/PILOT arrangements, and eligibility rules, with published totals and (where public) recipient entities/categories and time trends. - **Appeals utilization & outcomes brief:** A record-based summary of appeal volumes, outcomes, and typical relief patterns, including whether outcomes appear to differ by representation type or property class (as indicated by dockets/decision datasets). - **Distributional patterns (aggregate, not person-level):** Parcel/bill data summarized to neighborhoods/census geographies, linked to ACS/SAIPE indicators, showing how **effective tax burdens** and assessment-to-sales patterns vary across places and demographic composition, framed as what the datasets indicate. - **Influence & governance record:** A compilation of lobbying registrations, campaign finance disclosures, bill histories, hearing materials, and ethics filings that indicate which organized stakeholders engaged on property-tax-related rules and governance. - **Service-funding context:** Budget/ACFR and EMMA-based documentation showing how property tax reliance and collections relate (in records) to funding for schools and core local services over time. ## Guardrails - No person-level profiling of private individuals; analysis remains **entity-level** (registered entities/public companies) or **aggregate geographic** (tract/block group/zip) where lawful and supported by public records. - Any “influence” findings are framed as **documented participation and temporal alignment** in the public record, not as proven causation. ## Sampling strategy (to keep the record legible) - Start with **3–6 jurisdictions** chosen for open-data depth and diversity (e.g., one large city/county with parcel + sales data, one suburban county, one smaller locality, plus one state with a tax tribunal dataset). - Expand only where comparable records exist (or where FOIA/records-request yields are predictable).

Charter is editable by backer vote. Last amendment record is in the audit feed.

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