THE CONNECTICUT MUNICIPAL REAL PROPERTY TAX: A CLOSER LOOK AT THE HISTORIC AND EVOLVING LANDSCAPE

Authors

Dan M. Smolnik, Western New England University School of Law

Abstract

Connecticut’s tax on real property has been adopted by the continuum of time as necessary to the public fisc. In 1639, Connecticut adopted the Fundamental Orders, a document that arose from the agreement among the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor and bore more than a passing resemblance to seventeenth century charters of trading companies. What set the Orders apart was that they served to organize a body politic and, hence, became the first democratic written constitution in history. The chain of events set in motion in seventeenth century Connecticut yielded the new nation’s Articles of Confederation, and, as centralized tax theory gained hold, the Constitution.

The passage of time has, rather than consolidate local fiscal policy in Connecticut, yet further individuated the several towns in their production of own source revenue. This trend is reflected in the ways that towns have evolved in several observable characteristics, both demographically, such as in age, racial composition, and educational levels, and administratively, examined here through municipal fund balances.

Recommended Citation

Dan M. Smolnik, THE CONNECTICUT MUNICIPAL REAL PROPERTY TAX: A CLOSER LOOK AT THE HISTORIC AND EVOLVING LANDSCAPE, 46 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 212 (2024), https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/lawreview/vol46/iss3/2