AGO Opinion Topics: CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS IMPOSITION AD VALOREM PROPERTY TAX

1.  Article 7 of the Washington State Constitution does not require that property subject to ad valorem property tax be assessed at 100 per cent of true and fair value.    2.  The State Constitution imposes three requirements on the assessment of property subject to ad valorem property tax:  (1) any tax must be uniform, as to any class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax; (2) the valuation system must be administered in a systematic, non-discriminatory manner; and, (3) the aggregate of all taxes levied upon real and personal property by the state and all taxing districts must not, in any year, exceed one per cent of true and fair value of each property.