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Tax capacity and effort
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Tax Capacity and Effort in PDF (10 KB)
What you are looking at:
The Tax Capacity/Effort chart uses the assessed property
value for the whole state, divided by the statewide
capacity and multiplied by 100. The tax rate is
similarly aggregated, divided by the state tax rate and
multiplied by 100. This shows how much a municipality
can or could tax its local properties compared with how
much it does tax the local properties.
What you are looking for:
You notice that towns with large capacities tend to make
the smallest efforts. Conversely, the towns with least
capacity tend to make the largest efforts.
Equalized accounting
A good way of thinking about both tax-related charts
(this page and the previous one) is to imagine what it
would mean if the bars representing the Effort – in the
latter chart – were all the same. Imagine moving that
Effort bar to 100, which is what the above mathematical
manipulation does in order to plot the districts on
either side of that equalized 100 mark. If the Effort
were identical between the districts and the Capacity
were as it is currently, the tax rates on the other
chart would have to shift so that all municipalities,
rich and poor were making the same financial effort
relative to their capacity. (This is essentially what
Act 60 in Vermont does by redistributing tax dollars
collected from wealthier communities to poorer
communities.)
Urban challenges
Also, bear in mind that even though the state pays a
large share of the poorer districts’ school bill, the
urbans’ tax rates, which are the highest in the state,
serve to fill only some of the gap. The poorer districts
still have most of the highest class sizes in the state,
more buildings in states of serious disrepair and more
students with the highest need for support services.
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