Efty tax payments may increase the probability that a household becomes delinquent in paying property taxes the strength of the housing market in each municipality may also influence property tax delinquency rates . Reduced housing prices make it more difficult for homeworkers to obtain credit to meet current financial obligations, including property tax liabilities. As one measure of local housing markets , we calculate the four -quarter percentage changes in housing prices using the repeat-sale housing price index produced by the federal housing finance agency ( 2011). We also explore the direct relationship between the rate of housing foreclosures and property tax delinquency . Our assumption is that communities with higher frequency of foreclosures are more likely to have a higher rate of tax delinquencies. Unfortunately , we were only able to obtain foreclosure data for a single month ( April 2011). These data, provided by RealtyTrac (2011), capture differences across municipalities in the frequency of foreclosures and provide an indication of communities with especially weak housing markets.
Table 1 provides summary statistics for all the variables used in the analysis. While the average property tax delinquency rate is approximately 2.5% the rates range from about zero to 12.1% of the 37 municipalities in our sample , 12 allow the payment of property taxes in three installments and 7 provide for four installments . Late payment penalties are utilized in 26 jurisdictions and reminder notices are sent 25 municipalities
4, RESULTS
The results from estimating equation (1) are presented in table 2. The panel regression is estimating with robust standard errors and is based on data from 37 Wisconsin municipalities for the year 2005 trough 2009 . As described above , the dependent variable is the property tax delinquency rate. Before turning to the results related to the number of installment payments allowed, we review results related to the control variables
5. For our sample of municipalities , there is a strong negative correlation between the percentage of homeworkers making mortgage payments and the age of household head. Our hypothesis that households without mortgages are less likely to become property tax delinquent suggests that there is a lower probability of tax delinquency among elderly than non-elderly homeowners in a study using data from he income tax returns of nearly all Wisconsin homeowners. Boldt, Caruth , and Reschovsky (2010) find no evidence that elderly face liquidity constraints in making property tax payments.