Mecklenburg County Property Tax Appeals: A Systemic Bias Analysis

Mecklenburg County contracted with the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study recent property tax appeal data for evidence of systemic bias.

To conduct the Study, the School analyzed residential property tax appeal data related to Mecklenburg County’s 2019 county-wide reappraisal to determine if appeal rates or appeal results varied based on two independent variables: property values and a neighborhood’s minority population percentage. Stated differently, the Study sought to determine whether residential property owners in more White or more affluent neighborhoods were more likely to appeal their property tax appraisals and/or more likely to obtain a better result when they did appeal compared to residential property owners from less White or less affluent neighborhoods.