Research Is Being Built in Public
Untax the Roof is building a national research base on recurring property taxation across all taxable property — not only homes.
That includes residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and vacant real property, along with taxable personal property such as business machinery and equipment, vehicles, and other property classes where state or local law imposes recurring property taxes.
We publish verified work as it becomes ready, instead of waiting for every state, county, court record, and historical dataset to be complete.
Last updated: October 26, 2026.
What the Status Labels Mean
- Published — verified research is available on the public website.
- Research complete — the research and sourcing for that workstream are complete, but website presentation may still be pending.
- In progress — active research or data collection is underway.
- Data collection needed — the answer requires additional government, court, county, state, assessor, treasurer, sheriff, recorder, or other administrative records.
- Data unavailable — research has established that a reliable or complete dataset is not currently available from the sources reviewed.
Current Research Work
| Research area | Public status | What we're doing |
|---|---|---|
| National property-tax collections and historical totals | In progress | The verified 1992-2025 Census QTAX annual series is published on the National Overview page. Reconciliation against the separate Annual Survey (ALFIN) series and further normalization continue. |
| 50-state + D.C. property-tax comparisons | Published | Local-government property-tax revenue for all 50 states + D.C. in FY2024 — total, per capita, share of local general revenue, and share of personal income — with the change from FY2023, is live at State Comparison. Both years use the same population and personal-income estimates so the change is measured fairly. |
| Property classes | Published | Current tax-base treatment for all 50 states + D.C. is live at What's Taxed by State - residential, commercial/industrial, agricultural and vacant real property, business personal property, machinery/equipment, vehicles, utilities, minerals, intangibles, and household personal property. |
| Delinquency, liens, tax sales, foreclosure, tax deeds, and property loss | In progress | The legal process itself (when a loss actually becomes final, state by state) is live at Enforcement Law by State. Building the chain from unpaid tax through verified final ownership outcome, with each stage kept separate, continues. |
| National completed property-loss count | Data collection needed | No single authoritative nationwide database has been identified. A first-pass data path has now been verified for all 50 states + D.C.; record extraction and final title-outcome verification are underway. |
| State enforcement laws and procedures | Published | The full enforcement model, redemption rules, final title/loss event, and surplus-equity rules for all 50 states + D.C. are live at Enforcement Law by State, with state-specific unresolved gaps stated rather than guessed at. |
| Kansas statewide and county research | Published | Statewide history, all 105 counties, homeowner relief programs, and the delinquency-to-foreclosure process are live. See the Kansas research pages. |
| Kansas completed owner-occupied home-loss count | Data collection needed | A verified statewide count requires parcel-level county records and linkage across the foreclosure process. |
| Replacement funding and government revenue dependency | In progress | Real transition case studies (Illinois, Wisconsin, Rhode Island) are live at Replacement Funding Case Studies, and how dependent each state's schools are on property tax — including the FY2012-2024 national trend — is live at Schools and Property Tax. A 2022 property-tax revenue and dependency breakdown by government type (school district, county, municipality, township, special district) is live at The Replacement Question, and a 51-jurisdiction local-government dependency ranking is live at Local Government Tax Dependency. Since then, research (not yet on the website) has verified what local governments spend money on by government type (FY2022 Census expenditure functions), documented three real transition cases — North Dakota’s 2024 abolition proposal (Measure 4, rejected by voters), Ohio’s 2005 business personal-property phaseout, and Michigan’s 1994 Proposal A school-funding change — and begun measuring other recurring property-linked charges, such as special assessments, utility and stormwater fees, and payments in lieu of taxes, in Wichita, Wyandotte County/Kansas City, and Topeka. A twelve-item register of unresolved scenario assumptions (phaseout schedule, replacement revenue source, behavioral response, and more) is being worked through; verified policy, behavioral, incidence, and transition assumptions are still needed before quantitative replacement scenarios can be calculated. |
| 2026 nonpartisan election research | In progress | Building an inventory of November 2026 federal contests and candidates from official election offices and Federal Election Commission filings, with equal-field, neutral comparisons. The list so far — 849 candidates in 303 contests across 36 states and jurisdictions — is live at 2026 Federal Candidates, with each name marked by how it was checked (official sample ballot, official candidate list, or another source still being checked). It is not yet complete, and candidate property-tax positions and voting records have not yet been researched. |
| Federal and state legal research | Published | The federal baseline - Tyler v. Hennepin County and Pung v. Isabella County - is live at Federal Legal Baseline. State-by-state statutes, assessment rules, and enforcement authority continue to be tracked as they change. |
Why Some Answers Take Longer
Some property-tax statistics are published in national or statewide datasets. Others are not.
A tax becoming delinquent is not the same as a property being lost. A lien is not the same as a foreclosure. A scheduled auction is not proof that title transferred. For that reason, Untax the Roof will not turn incomplete records into a national property-loss estimate and present it as fact.
Where a reliable nationwide dataset does not exist, the research has to move through the states and, in some cases, county by county.
What We're Measuring
Our research is intended to track more than a single annual collection number. Depending on available records, the research program includes:
- property taxes collected
- assessed and appraised value
- property class
- delinquent taxes
- interest, penalties, and fees
- liens and tax certificates
- redemption
- foreclosure or tax-deed proceedings
- completed sales and ownership transfers
- auction price
- assessed or documented market value where available
- surplus proceeds and whether they were returned
- historical trends
- government units receiving property-tax revenue
- programs and expenditures supported by that revenue
- other existing government revenues relevant to the replacement question
Recently Completed or Materially Updated
- October 26, 2026 — 2026 elections: a nonpartisan, still-growing list of 2026 U.S. Senate and House candidates published at 2026 Federal Candidates, covering 36 states and jurisdictions so far, with sources and how each name was checked.
- October 26, 2026 — State comparison: the State Comparison page now shows FY2024 local property-tax revenue for all 50 states + D.C., with the change from FY2023 in total dollars, per person, share of local general revenue, and share of personal income. Nationally, local property tax rose 5.86% before inflation, while its share of local budgets and of income edged down slightly.
- October 24–26, 2026 — Kansas local charges: began measuring recurring property-linked charges that are not counted as “property tax” in Census data — special assessments, utility and stormwater fees, and payments in lieu of taxes — using official city and county financial records for Wichita, Wyandotte County/Kansas City, and Topeka. Topeka’s 2025 figures are provisional until its audited annual report is available. Who ultimately pays these charges (owners, renters, or customers) is not yet known.
- October 23, 2026 — Replacement funding: documented three real transition cases from primary sources — North Dakota’s 2024 Measure 4 (a proposal to abolish property tax, rejected 63.46% to 36.54%), Ohio’s 2005 phaseout of tangible personal property tax on businesses, and Michigan’s 1994 Proposal A school-funding change.
- October 22, 2026 — Replacement funding: verified FY2022 Census local-government spending by function and government type, and joined it to the revenue research so each government type’s property-tax revenue can be seen next to the services it provides. This does not mean property tax is set aside for any particular service.
- October 22, 2026 — State comparison: completed and verified the FY2023–FY2024 50-state + D.C. comparison, using one consistent set of Census population and BEA personal-income estimates for both years.
- October 2, 2026 — Replacement funding: a 51-jurisdiction FY2022 local-government property-tax dependency ranking published at Local Government Tax Dependency, linked from the National hub, footer, and The Replacement Question page.
- October 1, 2026 — Replacement funding: compatible 2022 Census revenue denominators and property-tax dependency ratios by government type published at The Replacement Question, narrowing the remaining scenario blocker to explicit policy assumptions.
- September 30, 2026 — Replacement funding: direct 2022 Census property-tax revenue by state and government type published, showing school districts receive the largest local government-type share (40.77%) but less than half of local property-tax revenue. See The Replacement Question.
- September 29, 2026 — Schools and Property Tax: added the direct FY2012-2024 national school property-tax revenue trend to Schools and Property Tax.
- September 28, 2026 — Five new national pages published: Enforcement Law by State (all 51 jurisdictions), What's Taxed by State (all 51 jurisdictions), Federal Legal Baseline (Tyler v. Hennepin County and Pung v. Isabella County), Replacement Funding Case Studies (Illinois, Wisconsin, Rhode Island), and Schools and Property Tax (FY2024 Census data, all 51 jurisdictions).
- September 25, 2026 — National property-tax collections history (1992-2025) and a 50-state + D.C. local-revenue comparison published. See National Overview and State Comparison.
- September 24, 2026 — Property classes: current tax-base treatment consolidated into one verified 51-jurisdiction matrix covering all 50 states + D.C. across real and personal property classes.
- September 24, 2026 — National data paths: initial property-loss collection paths verified for all 50 states + D.C.
- September 24, 2026 — Arkansas extraction: parcel-level Commissioner of State Lands sale-result extraction began, with sale-stage records kept separate from deed/title-transfer verification.
- September 24, 2026 — District of Columbia: 2024 official tax-sale financial reports were analyzed separately for third-party sales, District bid-backs, underlying tax, penalties/fees, and surplus.
- September 24, 2026 — Replacement funding: Census government-finance and school-finance sources were organized into government-type dependency and education-funding workstreams.
- September 24, 2026 — Kansas statewide property-tax history (1998-2025), a 105-county comparison, and the appeal/delinquency/foreclosure system published on both Untax the Roof and the Kansas Property Tax Freedom Coalition. See Kansas Property Tax System.
- September 22, 2026 — Kansas homeowner relief programs (Homestead, SAFESR, K-40SVR) and the Homestead cap's inflation erosion published on both sites. See Kansas Homeowner Relief Programs & Protections.
Known Data Gaps
We identify missing data rather than fill gaps with assumptions.
Current major gaps include the lack of a single authoritative nationwide count of completed property-tax foreclosures or tax-deed ownership losses, incomplete county/local records in decentralized states, and machine-access limits on some government datasets that require direct file acquisition or records requests.
When a gap is closed, the status above will be updated and the underlying source added to the relevant research page or dataset.
What Happens Next
Current priorities include:
- completing and publishing the national historical collection dataset
- using the completed 50-state + D.C. data-path inventory for actual sale, redemption, foreclosure, deed, and final-outcome record extraction
- collecting state and local records needed for completed property-loss counts
- expanding county-level research where statewide records do not exist
- continuing the Kansas county-record collection
- building the government revenue-dependency and replacement-funding research needed to examine what happens financially if recurring property taxation is eliminated
- confirming Topeka’s provisional 2025 local-charge figures against its audited annual report, and finding out who ultimately pays special assessments, utility fees, and payments in lieu of taxes in Wichita, Wyandotte County/Kansas City, and Topeka
- continuing the 2026 federal candidate list into the remaining states and districts, and matching more names to official ballots
Research Standards
Important factual claims, statistics, legal statements, and historical assertions must be traceable to their sources. Missing information is not treated as zero, incomplete records are not presented as complete totals, and proposals or arguments are not presented as current law.
See the Research Standards and Corrections page for the full methodology and sourcing rules.
Research Milestones Already Reached
- National Census QTAX collection series annualized for 1992-2025.
- Initial 50-state + D.C. property-tax revenue comparison committed and published (FY2023).
- Current property-class/tax-base treatment mapped, consolidated, and published for all 50 states + D.C.
- Full enforcement-law matrix (redemption, final title/loss event, surplus-equity rules) verified and published for all 50 states + D.C.
- Initial property-loss/enforcement data path verified for all 50 states + D.C.
- National property-loss record schema committed.
- Parcel-level Arkansas extraction pilots started.
- Centralized extraction plans created for Arkansas, New Mexico, West Virginia, D.C., and Massachusetts.
- Federal constitutional baseline updated through Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023) and Pung v. Isabella County (2026), and published.
- Three real replacement-funding transition case studies (Illinois, Wisconsin, Rhode Island) published.
- FY2024 public-school property-tax dependency published for all 50 states + D.C.
- Replacement-funding foundation now includes Census government-type, school-finance, and intergovernmental-revenue structure.
- Direct FY2012-2024 national school property-tax revenue trend published.
- 2022 property-tax revenue and dependency ratios by government type (school district, county, municipality, township, special district) published.
- 51-jurisdiction FY2022 local-government property-tax dependency ranking published.
- FY2023–FY2024 50-state + D.C. local property-tax comparison, with consistent population and income estimates, verified and published.
- FY2022 local-government spending by function and government type verified against the official Census table.
- North Dakota, Ohio, and Michigan transition cases documented from primary sources.