Who Really Bears the Ultimate Burden of the Two Elements of Property Taxation?
Who really pays this tax? The answer requires sharp distinction between the two elements of the tax. In both cases, however, the person who is truly worse off because of the tax may be very different from the one who writes the check. Sometimes when taxes are shifted – from building owner to tenant – the process works rather clearly. Often, however, the process is both slow and obscure (though perhaps less obscure than in the case of the slightly larger tax on corporation earnings) .[2] A change in tax will initially fall on the owner or, depending upon contract and market conditions, upon the user if he is someone else. With the passage of time, more of the burden on structures will be borne by the ultimate user, the residential occupant or the customer of a business; tax on utility and other business structures will in general be shifted to consumers. The process involves the flow of capital; after-tax returns (taking account of benefits of government services) tend toward equilibriu
