There is great variation in auditing practices among counties. Some counties audit a fixed proportion of personal property tax accounts each year while other counties conduct no audits. This variation contributes to problems with uniform treatment of personal property among counties. Concerns of tax payers and tax administrators Business groups are concerned with inconsistent treatment across and within counties and with the depreciation of machinery and equipment for which technology is rapidly advancing. Major concerns of tax administrators are the assessment of older items and idle equipment and the implementation of changes resulting from court cases.
Possible Reforms Eliminate the personal property tax.
This option would have a substantial effect on revenues, decreasing revenues by approximately 13.7 percent on average. Expand the list of exemptions. This may increase the number of business start ups since it lowers the cost of doing business in the state, but it may have a substantial impact on revenues. Change the exemption to a deduction. This would increase the equity of the system but may cause owners of property to subdivide accounts if the deduction is large.