Assessment needs to become more accurate and more of our taxation should shift to land, and away from productive activity. It may even be possible in many loca

Assessment needs to become more accurate and more of our taxation should shift to land, and away from productive activity. It may even be possible in many locales to use self-assessment, with the concept being that if you set it too low, others may outbid you according to a certain set of rules to keep things fair and reasonable. Current property tax assessors are licensed professionals, and each county in the US handles it differently. Sometimes they are elected, sometimes they are appointed. One could also imagine the local governments outsourcing assessment to private tax assessment companies. Zillow and many companies already have assessments for most of the country freely available on their website.