Property Tax Abatement for Low-Income Housing: An Idea Whose Time May Never Arrive

Drawing on empirical studies, the author argues that, though plausible in theory, property tax abatement does not in reality generate a significant increase in the supply of low-income housing because of several economic and political factors. Furthermore, the author argues that tax abatement proposals have had the additional negative effect of indirectly impeding movement toward greater public responsibility for low-income housing. The author concludes that legislatures should abandon attempts to attract private capital into the low-income housing market through the use of tax incentives. The author argues that the public sector should be the low-income housing supplier of choice rather than the private sector (author).