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I'd imagine this is because property tax increases are usually capped, and reassessments exceeding that cap typically only happen when the property is sold, or there are new improvements. This was meant to allow 'grandma' to afford to live in her home past retirement, without taxes forcing her out.
What typically happens is that landowners use an LLC for every property. Then when they sell a property, they are really just selling the LLC. So the property doesn't get reassessed when it is sold, because the owners of the company changed, not the owner (LLC) of the property. This gives landlords an advantage over homeowners, shifting the burden of property taxes onto new homeowners.
Another thing is that this leads to slumlords. Why renovate a property if it is going to lead to a massive increase in taxes? Meanwhile longtime homeowners who renovate (including grandma) will be absolutely ravaged by the reassessment.
And new rental builds are going to have to be high-end, because they won't be able to compete with older buildings that are paying a fraction of the taxes.
By simply removing the property tax cap and having everyone on an even playing field, you'd end up with better outcomes for most people.
Don't know how true all of this is for Detroit specifically.
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