There is nothing Papaw Jordan likes complaining about more than property taxes. It infuriates him that the government can make him pay for a piece of property he owns, the only home he has in a country where — from colonization to the the “manifest destiny” of westward colonial expansion, to the birth of the so-called “American dream” in the 1950s — owning land has long been the ultimate aspiration. 

He’s not alone. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released in January shows that roughly 70% of U.S. homeowners believe their property taxes are too high. Unsurprisingly, Republicans (the party of low taxes, though typically on the wealthy) are more likely than Democrats to believe local property taxes are too high, but a slim majority of Democrats, like Papaw, agree. Despising property taxes is one of the few issues uniting Americans left, right, and center.

This November, voters in Georgia will have an opportunity to finally do something about their property taxes. A state constitutional amendment is on the ballot, and if voters approve it, it would limit the increase in a home’s value assessed for property tax purposes to the rate of inflation each year. According to U.S. News and World Report, “discontent over rising property tax bills is the top concern [Georgia lawmakers say they] hear from constituents,” while statistics show that property tax collection in the Peach State rose 41% between 2018 and 2022, while the assessed value of property rose by almost 39%. 

As a leftist, it is tempting to scoff at the notion that homeowners are suffering. After all, we often frame — with some justification — the housing crisis as being one of greedy landlords and exorbitant rents. 

But in Appalachia, home ownership is far more the norm, and property taxes are a crucial issue for our region. Data from Fannie Mae shows that in “Middle Appalachia” (which includes ARC-designated counties in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina), 73% of households own their home compared with 64% across the nation. Figures from the Census Bureau further underscore this reality, showing that West Virginia has the highest homeownership rate in the entire country. 

Unsurprisingly, the north Georgia counties that are part of Appalachia follow the trend, showing rates of homeownership at 70% or higher. Meanwhile, the state has seen an increase in residents every decade since 1990. Many of those people, including the much-loathed “halfbacks” choosing the milder climate and lower cost-of-living of Appalachia over Florida, wind up in the mountains north of Atlanta where property values are skyrocketing as supply does not keep up with demand. 

For the already struggling in these Appalachian counties, the increased property tax burden is difficult to shoulder. Yet property taxes pay for essential services on which citizens rely: public schools, police, firefighters, EMTs, parks and public spaces, street maintenance, sanitation services, and more. Cutting property taxes then necessitates underfunding essential public services. So while homeowners may get relief, the lack of additional revenue coupled with the increasing population demands on local governments and schools leads to a dilemma in which citizens can afford their homes, but towns, counties, and other jurisdictions can’t afford to adequately function unless they raise taxes which price people out of their homes.

This catch-22 is precisely the problem. The Georgia referendum, no doubt meant to bring much-needed relief to struggling homeowners, treats the symptom rather than the illness. The problem is not that property taxes are too high (though for many Appalachians, they undoubtedly are). The problem is that property taxes are used to fund essential services in the first place.

Inequalities inherent in property taxes are well documented. Studies have found that properties owned by Black homeowners or in low-income neighborhoods are regularly over-assessed. At the same time, the Washington Post reported that homes in rich areas are under-assessed, while the Brookings Institution found that Black homeowners’ property is undervalued when it comes time to refinance or sell. 

The problem is not limited to Black homeowners, though. It is a structural issue affecting working class Americans of all races. Last year, the Federal Reserve released a study which found that even with state funding for poorer districts, the underassessment of property taxes “can compound funding inequality across districts in states that rely on property wealth to fund schools” (which is practically every state and municipality in this country). 

The New York Times was more succinct in their scathing condemnation of our property tax model. “More expensive properties are undervalued, while less expensive property is overvalued,” the Grey Lady’s editorial board wrote in 2021. “The result is that wealthy homeowners get a big tax break, while less affluent homeowners are paying a higher price for the same public services.”

In cities like Atlanta, Knoxville and Pittsburgh this means the poor may well pay a greater percentage of their income in property tax than the rich. In rural communities like those in north Georgia or where I grew up in eastern Kentucky, where poverty is rampant if not almost universal, it means diminished public services. 

I saw this firsthand when I relocated from Riverside, Ohio — a working class community outside of Dayton — to Leslie County, Kentucky in the early 2000s. Riverside was by no means wealthy, yet it had sufficient property tax income and a generous school levy which allowed me to study acting (I had enough hours in theater by the end of my freshman year to qualify for the International Thespian Society) and violin. 

Moving to Kentucky, my new school had neither a drama club nor an orchestra. Extracurriculars were limited to a tiny band or sports: football, basketball, baseball and softball, a small track team or cheerleading. We also managed to field an academic team, but that was it. There simply was not enough money for much else.

Educational standards were also low, and Leslie County High School (my alma mater) routinely landed among the bottom 5% of Kentucky schools when it came to test scores. “Coal-property values have plummeted, hitting Appalachian school district budgets hard,” Meredith Kolodner wrote in a 2019 profile of the school in Scalawag Magazine. “State officials say that some eastern Kentucky counties have a hard time collecting tax money in the first place. In 2016, Leslie collected just 60 percent of what residents owed, further cutting into what the schools received.”

It was only with funding from the Commonwealth, the federal government and Berea College that things began to improve, helping LCHS become a model of what can happen when Appalachian districts are given the resources they need. When the funding needs were even partially met — Leslie County still has trouble funding its students’ transportation needs, for example — the results spoke for themselves. Test scores improved, Advanced Placement courses were added, and the graduation rate skyrocketed. 

The turnaround of my old high school illustrates the inequality of our current tax system. Placing the burden of funding public services, from schools to humane societies to health departments, on municipalities means that not all Americans have access to the same public services. Even in communities where public services are robust — which, let’s be honest, are few and far between in this country — the undervaluation of more expensive properties means that lower-income Americans are paying disproportionately more for the same services than their wealthier neighbors. It is obscene. 

Appalachians ought to instinctively understand this given that we own our homes at higher rates than the average American yet suffer from crumbling infrastructure and underfunded schools. While lawmakers such as Bill Lee, Tennessee’s Republican governor, push charter schools and vouchers as a solution, for rural Appalachians it isn’t practical. There are barely enough teachers to staff the public high school — I had to get a letter from my guidance counselor explaining I could not fulfill foreign language requirements when applying for university because our school didn’t have a foreign language teacher — and, even if there were, removing state oversight (as happens with charters) is a step in the wrong direction. Indeed, it was only with state funding and oversight that LCHS improved. 

Furthermore, Leslie County consists of 400 square miles of rugged terrain, making getting to the only high school in the county difficult enough. It is unreasonable to suggest my old friends and neighbors send their children to a charter or private school because there isn’t one nearby. 

Never mind the myriad other services property taxes pay for. The system we have is inherently unequal, creating a two-tiered system: one of comparatively robust schools and public services for those living in wealthy communities and one of crumbling, dilapidated, subpar services and infrastructure for the rest of us. 

No doubt those who proposed and will vote for the Georgia referendum have good intentions. Property taxes are too high for too many Georgians. Bringing down the cost will offer temporary relief to cash-strapped homeowners. 

Relieving their burden, even a little bit, is a good thing. It is not, however, a solution to the problems inherent in our property tax system. Americans deserve a fairer, better system.

What that system looks like is, of course, one we can debate. Certainly, though, it will require taking the tax burden off local jurisdictions and funding schools, parks, libraries, police departments and other public services equitably through a centralized distribution of tax revenue by state governments as well as at the federal level. 

There is no reason someone living in a tony Atlanta suburb should have access to better public schools or a safer community than someone living in rural north Georgia simply because they are rich. 

That is not fair. It is not equitable. It is not right. 

You know who is right? Papaw Jordan. Property taxes are too damn high. 

Unfortunately, the cost of property taxes is the least of our problems. Whether it passes or not, this Georgia amendment misses the point. Property tax rates may be a problem for homeowners in need of relief, but the real problem is the inherent inequality of our current system.

Skylar Baker-Jordan is 100 Days in Appalachia’s Contributing Editor for Community Engagement. Support his work and our continued coverage of politics in the region by donating here.

Share your feedback and thoughts with Skylar directly at [email protected].