Bobby Fisher - The Importance of Property Tax

From a conversation with Bobby Fisher, Deputy Chief Appraiser, Bulloch County, Georgia

In the world of property assessment, we often get caught up in the pursuit of precision, drilling down to the exact dollar value of every property. But after a decade in this business, I've come to understand that our real mission is something quite different: uniformity.

When taxpayers walk into our office upset about their assessment, they rarely leave satisfied because we proved our value was "right." They leave satisfied because we showed them they're being treated the same as their neighbors. That's the heart of what we do.

Uniformity Trumps Everything

The courts have upheld it time and again: uniformity trumps value. This isn't just legal doctrine, it's the foundation of public trust in our system.

As Bobby Fisher puts it: "We know something might be intuitively right or a value might intuitively be what it is. But we can't do it because it's not uniform. We have to uniformly apply our methodologies."

This means using the same approach for all residential properties, the same methodology for all apartments, the same process for all retail buildings. No exceptions based on who owns what or which neighborhood we're assessing.

The Mental Load We Carry

Unlike fee appraisers who focus on one property at a time, we carry the weight of ensuring fairness across entire communities. When you're dealing with 35,000 parcels with a staff of 12, as Fisher's office does, you're not just assigning numbers, you're distributing the tax burden across your neighbors.

"If we're going to put people into a financial burden," Fisher notes, "we at least have to do them the courtesy and the right to make sure it's as correct and as fair as we can."

This responsibility hits home when you're standing in line at the grocery store next to someone whose property you just assessed. You need to be able to look them in the eye knowing you did right by them and everyone else in the community.

Why Caps Create More Problems Than They Solve

The recent wave of assessment caps and complex exemptions might sound good in theory, but they're creating administrative nightmares that ultimately undermine the very fairness they claim to promote.

Georgia's House Bill 581 introduced a cap with so many exceptions and special provisions that even software vendors struggled to implement it correctly. The cap applies to houses and up to 5 acres, but what if you have more land? What if you're in a conservation program? What constitutes a "substantial improvement" that would reset your base value?

Each layer of complexity introduces new opportunities for error. When you multiply a 99% accuracy rate across multiple calculations, valuation, caps, exemptions, you're virtually guaranteeing mistakes that erode public trust.

The Hidden Regressivity of "Relief"

Here's what politicians don't tell voters: caps are among the most regressive forms of tax relief available. A 10% increase on a $300,000 home saves the owner about $300 in taxes. That same 10% increase on a $2 million home saves $2,000.

"Are we really giving the benefit to who needs it?" Fisher asks. The answer is clearly no.

Building Trust Through Education

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of our work is education. Fisher's office has discovered that angry taxpayers who receive clear explanations rarely return as repeat appellants. The key isn't proving you're right, it's showing you're fair.

This means explaining not just what the assessment is, but how you arrived at it and why everyone else is being treated the same way. It means admitting when the current system makes it impossible to show taxpayers their full calculation because documents don't include base values or break down complex exemptions clearly.

The Stability Argument Nobody Makes

When defending property taxes, we often get caught up in technical discussions about horizontal equity and coefficient of dispersion. But Fisher offers a more compelling argument: stability.

"During the 2007-2009 recession, discretionary spending crashed. That's your sales tax revenue," he explains. "But local services don't stop needing funding. You still need fire trucks, ambulances, police officers, roads."

Property tax provides predictable, stable revenue that allows local governments to weather economic storms without laying off the very people communities depend on. This isn't just good fiscal policy, it's about maintaining essential services when they're needed most.

Looking Ahead

As we face mounting pressure to abolish or cap property taxes, we need to remember what's at stake. Every exemption that favors longtime owners over new buyers, every cap that benefits expensive properties more than modest homes, every layer of complexity that makes the system harder to understand, they all chip away at the fundamental fairness that makes property tax work.

Fisher, who transitioned from calling in artillery strikes for the Army to calculating property values, understands the importance of precision. But in mass appraisal, he's learned, accuracy matters more than precision. Getting everyone roughly right and treating them all the same builds more trust than getting a few properties perfect while others wonder about the process.

Key Takeaway

Uniformity isn't just a technical requirement, it's the foundation of public trust in property assessment. When taxpayers understand they're being treated fairly and equally, they're far more likely to accept their role in funding essential community services. The push for caps and complex exemptions might win political points, but it undermines the very fairness that makes property tax the most equitable revenue source available to local governments. As assessors, our job isn't just to value property correctly; it's to value it uniformly, transparently, and in a way that maintains public confidence in the system.