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Percent of tax base (commercial versus residential)

Livability

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The city’s tax base is the total value of appraised property within the city limits of Fort Worth. This indicator provides insight into the percentage of the appraised value that relates to commercial versus residential properties. As many cities do, the City of Fort Worth relies on property taxes to fund local government services, such as police, fire, parks, libraries, transportation and code enforcement. Municipalities across the United States have been analyzing this ratio of residential to commercial values to assist in determining where the burden of property taxes exist. The city's goal is to adjust the commercial portion of the tax base to approximately 60%.


Data Source: This data comes from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. 

 

The City of Fort Worth tax base has been transitioning to a higher percentage of residential tax base relative to commercial tax base for more than 20 years. In 2017, this was 38 percent in commercial value and 62 percent in residential. The city’s goal is that those rates are actually flipped, with a higher percentage of tax base classified as commercial. Since the early 2000's, Fort Worth has experienced an unprecedented growth in population.  Fort Worth is currently one of the fastest growing large cities in the country.  In 2017, it became the 15 largest city in the United States, and is quickly anticipated to jump to the 14th largest. This growth has led to extraordinary residential development and the change in tax base. While population growth is a positive, actions are being taken to understand the valuation process of commercial properties and how the city can improve commercial development throughout our city limits.