% Author: Simon-Pierre Boucher — contact@spboucher.ai
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% UQO Working Paper No. 10
% The Assessment Gap in Quebec: Vertical and Horizontal Inequity in
% Municipal Property Valuation
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\newcommand{\WPnumber}{10}
\newcommand{\WPtitle}{The Assessment Gap in Quebec}
\newcommand{\WPsubtitle}{Vertical and Horizontal Inequity in Municipal Property
  Valuation: Evidence from 522{,}769 Sales Matched to the Assessment Roll}
\newcommand{\WPdate}{August 2026}
\newcommand{\WPversion}{1.0}
\newcommand{\WPkeywords}{Property tax, Assessment, Vertical equity,
  Regressivity, Ratio study, Quebec}
\newcommand{\WPjel}{H71, H22, R51, R31}

\newcommand{\WPauthor}{Simon-Pierre Boucher}
\newcommand{\WPaffiliation}{D\'epartement des sciences administratives\\
  Universit\'e du Qu\'ebec en Outaouais}
\newcommand{\WPemail}{simon-pierre.boucher@uqo.ca}
\newcommand{\WPaddress}{Gatineau -- Pavillon Alexandre-Tach\'e\\
  283, boulevard Alexandre-Tach\'e\\ Gatineau, Qu\'ebec, Canada J9A 1L8}

\newcommand{\WPabstract}{%
Municipal property taxes are levied on assessed values, so any systematic
relationship between assessment accuracy and market value silently
redistributes the tax burden. Matching 522{,}769 residential transactions
from 2021--2026 to the triennial assessment rolls of 625 Quebec
municipalities at the parcel level, we provide the first province-wide
evaluation of vertical and horizontal equity in Canadian property assessment.
Assessment ratios decline steeply with price: within
municipality~$\times$~roll~$\times$~sale-year markets, the elasticity of the
assessment ratio with respect to the sale price is $-0.34$, and a rank-based
instrumental-variable estimator in the spirit of \mbox{Clapp (1990)}---which
purges the attenuation bias that pushes least-squares tests toward spurious
regressivity---still yields $-0.08$ ($t\approx4$). IAAO ratio-study
diagnostics place 95\% of municipalities below the acceptable price-related
bias band and 99\% above the COD uniformity ceiling; Montr\'eal is the only
large market whose assessments are progressive. Regressivity is strongest for
single-family homes, older buildings, properties with a high assessed land
share, and smaller municipalities, and it doubles in years when market prices
decouple from the rolls' reference dates, pointing to infrequent revaluation
as a first-order mechanism. The implied intra-municipal tax shift is large:
the median dwelling in the bottom within-market price decile pays roughly
65\% more property tax than it would under uniform assessment, while the top
decile pays about 5\% less.}

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