The tax rate, in its simplest form, is the tax levy divided by the town’s taxable valuation. This is called the Uniform Tax Rate. At the April Annual Town Meeting residents vote appropriations for the upcoming Fiscal Year. This is called the tax levy. The Assessor’s primary responsibility is to find the “full and fair cash value” of your property so that the taxpayer may pay only his/her fair share of taxes.

Individual assessments may rise or fall depending on the characteristics of the property. The purpose of mass appraisal is to value all property by the same standards at the same time to create an equitable distribution of the tax levy. If the same amount of money is to be raised for the current year after a valuation update from the previous year, and each assessment has doubled, the tax rate would be cut in half. And vice versa, if each assessment decreased by 20%, and the same amount of money was to be raised, the tax rate would increase by 20%. Increases or decreases in assessed values do not cause a tax increase or decrease.

Proposition 2 ½ limits the amount of taxes Massachusetts communities can raise for the current year from the previous year’s levy limit. To this a town may add new growth (increased valuations caused by new construction, renovations or land use changes) and overrides voted by the town.

By law, the Assessors must value all property at 100% of full and fair cash value, using methodologies approved by the Department of Revenue (DOR) applied consistently to every property. Properties need to be valued without regard to the owner’s ability to pay the taxes.