Also known as: property taxes · property-tax
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A tax levied on the owner of property, especially real property, based on the property's value. Local governments commonly use the revenue to fund schools, municipal services, and similar public needs.
Patrick Phan owns Blackacre subject to a mortgage held by Prosperity Investments. Without the mortgagee's consent, Patrick allows the county property taxes to become delinquent. The resulting tax lien impairs the mortgagee's security, constituting waste under the mortgage documents and permitting foreclosure or appointment of a receiver.
Pablo Perez seeks a development permit from the water district for his waterfront parcel. The district demands he pay for off-site wetland restoration or forfeit the permit. The payment is an exaction subject to heightened scrutiny rather than an ordinary property tax assessed on all owners in the district.
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Parker Phillips, a university student, challenges the school's refusal to fund a religious publication from mandatory student fees. The university already exempts religious organizations from property taxes on their campus buildings. The fee program is analyzed under free-speech principles separate from the property-tax exemption.
Pulse Media owns a building used exclusively for religious worship. The city grants a property-tax exemption for the structure. The exemption is upheld as a permissible accommodation that does not constitute an establishment of religion.
Paul Peterson receives a state voucher to pay tuition at a religious school for his children. The program is funded in part through general revenues rather than a direct property-tax levy on local homeowners. The Court upholds the program because parents choose the school and no public funds flow directly to the religious institution.
Pedro Pacheco owns a mobile-home park and challenges a city ordinance capping space rents. The ordinance does not impose or alter any property tax on the land itself. The Court treats the rent cap as a regulation of private contracts rather than a tax measure.
Yes. When a mortgagor fails to pay property taxes before delinquency, the resulting senior lien impairs the mortgagee's security and qualifies as waste even without physical damage to the property.
No. Courts distinguish such exactions from ordinary property taxes because the payment is imposed as a condition of obtaining government permission rather than as a general levy on property ownership.
No. A property-tax exemption for property used exclusively for religious purposes is viewed as a permissible accommodation rather than an impermissible subsidy or establishment of religion.
Such a system receives rational-basis review because education is not a fundamental right and wealth is not a suspect classification. The system is upheld when rationally related to the legitimate goal of local control over schools.
…U. S. C. § 501(c)(3); the corporate income tax in many States, see, e. g., Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code Ann. § 23701d (West 1992); and property taxes in all 50 States, see Turner, Property Tax Exemptions for Nonprofits, 12 Probate & Property 25 (Sept./Oct. 1998); and clergy qualify for a federal tax break on income used for housing…