In A Good Tax, tax expert Joan Youngman skillfully considers how to improve the operation of the property tax and supply the information that is often missing in public debate. She analyzes the legal, administrative, and political challenges to the property tax in the United States and offers recommendations for its improvement. The book is accessibly written for policy analysts and public officials who are dealing with specific property tax issues and for those concerned with property tax issues in general.

Contributors in municipal studies, law, and philanthropic studies discuss property-tax exemption for charities and how public perception on property-owning charities differs from reality. They survey the legal and political landscape of property-tax exemption for nonprofit organizations, examine the development of the current structure of nonprofit property-tax exemption and its legal rationales, and assess mechanisms adopted by local municipalities to offset some of the revenue lost because of exempt properties. Material originated at the December 1997 26th Annual Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.