The tremendous variation in property tax systems across the states makes comparisons of property tax rates difficult. A simple comparison of statutory rates will be misleading. State tax laws differ in their assessment standards. Some, like Washington, specify that property should be assessed at market value. In other states, the assessed value is supposed to be some fixed fraction of market value.
States also differ in the extent that actual assessment practice conforms to the legal standard.
The properties vary in the distributions of value among various classes of property, and in the overall values. For each property, the study calculates the taxes that would be levied if it were located in the largest city in each of the fifty states. It then calculates for each an effective tax rate, by dividing the taxes paid by the market value of the property. Household personal property is exempt in Washington. Household personal property and business inventories are exempt.