Landlords in Milwaukee have several methods for avoiding paying fines and property taxes—it's all a part of gaming the system. After the local paper investigated the "landlord games," the city is taking action.
"[The city of Milwaukee] is looking to close a door on problem Milwaukee landlords who game the property tax system by paying just one out of every three years of property taxes owed," reports Cary Spivak.
According to Spivak's explanation of the situation, many landlords in Milwaukee only pay property taxes every three years—just before the three-year window of time when the city will seize properties through tax foreclosure, or "in rem." The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel examined this practice as part of a continuing series on "Landlord Games."
The city hopes to implement a system that will prevent bad actors, and the city Treasurer's Office already knows who some of those landlords are. The most recent update includes details about the surprisingly slow political process of getting landlord regulation measures on the city's legislative agenda.
FULL STORY: Milwaukee is looking to force landlords to pay taxes and stop gaming the system
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research