US property taxes rose almost 100% in a decade

The size of the property tax bite doubled nationwide in the last decade despite citizen efforts to limit the pinch, a government study said. The Census Bureau report said property taxes remain a major source of local revenue, although they now account for a smaller percentage of locally collected taxes than they did in 1969. In the decade ending in 1979, the size of local property taxes increased from $32.5 billion in 1969 to $63 billion, it said. But while property taxes made up 86 percent of all local taxes in 1969, they made up only 78 percent in 1979.