Do political parties matter for property taxes?

We evaluate whether political partisanship affects local taxes in an emerging economy. Using detailed residential property-level data in Chile, we study whether mayors' political leanings affect the reassessment process and thus the taxes paid by home owners. In Chile, this type of tax is espec...

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Main Authors: Felipe Aldunate, Cristobal Diaz, Santiago Truffa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319994
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author Felipe Aldunate
Cristobal Diaz
Santiago Truffa
author_facet Felipe Aldunate
Cristobal Diaz
Santiago Truffa
author_sort Felipe Aldunate
collection DOAJ
description We evaluate whether political partisanship affects local taxes in an emerging economy. Using detailed residential property-level data in Chile, we study whether mayors' political leanings affect the reassessment process and thus the taxes paid by home owners. In Chile, this type of tax is especially relevant since it is one of the largest sources of municipal income. To address endogeneity concerns, we use a regression discontinuity design, exploiting the quasi-experimental variation provided by close municipal elections. Our main results show that after a right-wing mayor is elected, property assessments increase up to 31% more than in a similar municipality where a left-wing mayor was elected. This effect cannot be fully explained by changes in prices or property characteristics.
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spelling doaj-art-2a709e296dd74170ba811361fe40435c2025-08-20T03:08:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01205e031999410.1371/journal.pone.0319994Do political parties matter for property taxes?Felipe AldunateCristobal DiazSantiago TruffaWe evaluate whether political partisanship affects local taxes in an emerging economy. Using detailed residential property-level data in Chile, we study whether mayors' political leanings affect the reassessment process and thus the taxes paid by home owners. In Chile, this type of tax is especially relevant since it is one of the largest sources of municipal income. To address endogeneity concerns, we use a regression discontinuity design, exploiting the quasi-experimental variation provided by close municipal elections. Our main results show that after a right-wing mayor is elected, property assessments increase up to 31% more than in a similar municipality where a left-wing mayor was elected. This effect cannot be fully explained by changes in prices or property characteristics.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319994
spellingShingle Felipe Aldunate
Cristobal Diaz
Santiago Truffa
Do political parties matter for property taxes?
PLoS ONE
title Do political parties matter for property taxes?
title_full Do political parties matter for property taxes?
title_fullStr Do political parties matter for property taxes?
title_full_unstemmed Do political parties matter for property taxes?
title_short Do political parties matter for property taxes?
title_sort do political parties matter for property taxes
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319994
work_keys_str_mv AT felipealdunate dopoliticalpartiesmatterforpropertytaxes
AT cristobaldiaz dopoliticalpartiesmatterforpropertytaxes
AT santiagotruffa dopoliticalpartiesmatterforpropertytaxes