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Working Paper 24-01: Capitalization of Property Tax Incentives: Evidence From Philadelphia

Published: 1/5/2024
Author:

Jonah Coste

​​Ab​stract:

In 2000, Philadelphia enacted an abatement policy that exempted new development from property taxes for 10 years. This policy provides an ideal natural experiment to test property tax capitalization because it creates contemporaneous intra-jurisdiction tax variation within a finite and known duration. Consistent with theory, the tax benefits are initially capitalized fully into home prices. However, as abatements near expiration, the benefits become overcapitalized in home prices. This paper also finds that escrow payment shocks cause delinquencies for owners of homes with expiring abatements.​

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