Urban sprawl and property tax of a city’s core and suburbs: Evidence from Italy

Urban sprawl and property tax of a city’s core and suburbs: evidence from Italy. Regional Studies. A city’s core and suburban property tax differentials can affect sprawl within an urban area. This paper empirically addresses this issue by analyzing the pattern of density growth of 72 Italian functional urbanized areas. Results show that the density of an urban area declines in response to an increase in the city’s core property tax rate. This effect is due to changes in dwelling size. By contrast, the density of an urban area significantly rises when suburban property tax rates increase, making the urban area more compact. This effect is attributable to changes in the improvement effect of property taxation.