Good Tax News: Assessments Locally Appear Equitable And Free Of Bias

A study of local housing data conducted by the UC College of Law’s Rosenthal Institute for Justice found that in Cincinnati -- unlike some other communities across the country -- no discrimination on the basis of race, home value or wealth appears to exist in determining and assessing property tax bills.

The study analyzed housing data from 1999 and 2002 across a number of different variables and found that generally, the Hamilton County Auditor’s Office is consistent in its practices across the county’s 48 communities, with assessments appearing to have no tie to individual community demographics.

"We are very pleased that the results demonstrated no pattern of racial or economic discrimination in Hamilton County when it comes to tax assessments of homes," said Mark Godsey, Faculty Director of the Rosenthal Institute for Justice. "Just like in cases where discrimination is found, when discrimination is not found the public needs to be made aware of it and the responsible agency congratulated."

A recent research article in the "Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law" found discrimination in assessment practices in New Haven, Conn., and discussed another study that found the same result in Ft. Worth, Texas. These studies discovered that homes in minority neighborhoods in those communities were assessed at a much higher percentage of fair market value than were homes in predominantly white neighborhoods.

The Rosenthal Center’s study of Hamilton County looked at the same questions here, and found that while the possibility exists of discrepancies in assessments of individual properties, no patterns by race or any other measure could be established across the county’s communities.

For instance, the study looked at 2002 figures for home sale prices and compared them to the amounts those homes were assessed at for tax purposes by the county auditor. The average assessment percentage was 89.27 percent for the county. The average assessment percentage in 42 of the county’s 48 communities came in within five percentage points of either side of that average.

Lincoln Heights, the county community with the highest percentage of African-American residents, was just below the county average at 88.49 percent. Woodlawn, with the second-highest percentage of African-Americans, was above the average at 90.81 percent. The City of Cincinnati, with the highest aggregate population of African-Americans in the county, had an average assessment percentage of 87.84 percent.

The 2002 data showed also showed consistency when measuring assessment percentages against income and home-value data across the communities. Similar trends held across all areas when looking at the same data from 1999.

The data looked at also showed that the auditor’s office had appeared to improve its assessment process from 1999 to 2002, based on fewer assessments showing a discrepancy from the sale price of more than 25 percent. Just under 15 percent of 2002 sales were either under- or over-assessed by at least 25 percent, when compared to actual sale prices. Again, though, there appeared to be no consistent pattern in these discrepancies across any of the demographic measurements.

The study is officially titled "An Empirical Analysis of Hamilton County Property Tax Assessments: Are Property Taxes in Cincinnati Imposed in a Racially Discriminatory Manner?"

The research was done by UC law students working through the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Institute for Justice. Part of the institute’s mission is to help law students become a vehicle for positive social and legal change in Cincinnati by engaging in public policy research projects under the guidance of UC law faculty. The institute is also home to the Ohio Innocence Project and an ongoing speaker series.

A full copy of the tax assessment study is immediately available from Britta Ernst at (513) 556-0117, or britta.ernst@uc.edu.